Xbox price cut works as it thumps PS3 in Japan

As if to prove that money really does talk, Microsoft's newly cheap Xbox 360 has only gone and done the unthinkable and risen from the foot of Japan's console sales charts.

Enterbrain figures for September show that Nintendo's Wii came top on 109,548 sales, but that the habitual runner-up PS3 was overtaken by the Xbox 360. Sony's machine sold 33,071 units, compared to MS's 53,547.

First time not to be last
Microsoft managed to beat Sony for the first time since the two third-gen consoles were released by slashing almost a third from the price of the Xbox 360 in Japan last month.

Currently, the cheapest 360 sells for ¥19,800 (£106), the entry-level PS3 for ¥39,980 (£215) and the Wii for ¥25,000 (£134). Nintendo and Sony are expected to announce price cuts within the year, possibly at next week's Tokyo Game Show.

New Sony Cybershot DSC-H3 with Big Zoom

For parents looking to capture and re-live their children’s back-to-school memories, Sony is introducing a super-zoom digital camera small enough to carry to any school activity. The new 8-megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-H3 camera has a powerful 10x optical zoom lens for those close-up shots you don’t want to miss, and yet features a super compact form so you can take the camera along anywhere.

The model features high-definition component output, putting a high-resolution spin on the family slideshow. By connecting the new camera to any HDTV set with Sony’s VMC-MHC1 high-definition component cable (sold separately), families can see their digital photos the same way they watch their favorite TV shows – in full 1080 HD resolution. The camera is equipped with a built-in slide show function so you can view photos, complete with transitions choreographed to your choice of programmed music clips or by adding your own.

When the camera is connected to a new Sony BRAVIA® television, photos are optimized for television viewing with Sony’s new “Photo TV HD” mode. This mode brings the look of actual printed photography to the television set, reproducing high-quality digital photos by fine-tuning image parameters, like sharpness, gradation and color specifically for photographs.

Designed to Capture Great Photos

The DSC-H3 model includes a variety of features to ensure parents can document their kids’ activities, from football games to dance recitals and spelling bees. To begin, the new camera features a powerful Carl Zeiss ® 10x optical zoom lens, which makes it ideal for capturing every expression when shooting little stars from the audience. It also includes a long-range flash that lights up subjects farther from the camera. For group shots, moms and dads will appreciate the model’s face detection technology. It identifies up to eight faces in the camera’s 2.5-inch LCD screen, and automatically adjusts for correctly exposed, sharp photos.

To capture every touchdown, the high-zoom camera also includes Sony’s advanced sports shooting mode, which combines high shutter speed shooting and intelligent continuous auto-focusing. The camera will quickly focus on fast-moving subjects by predicting where they will be in the frame. This technology also helps to reduce shutter lag -- the time it takes for the camera to focus and shoot.

To reduce chances of blurry photos, the H3 model incorporates Super Steady Shot® optical image stabilization that minimizes blur caused by camera shake. This is an important feature when shooting at slow shutter speeds at full zoom. The unit’s high sensitivity (up to ISO 3200) will also capture well-exposed, natural-looking photos, even in challenging low-light conditions.

Equipped with Sony’s Dynamic Range Optimizer, originally developed for the Alpha digital SLR system, the new camera can analyze captured image data, and instantly determine the best exposure and tonality of each picture before JPEG compression. Other helpful in-camera functions include red-eye correction and photo retouching effects with filters.

The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H3 camera will ship next month for about $300. Additional accessories will include wide and telephoto conversion lenses, filters, batteries, travel chargers, sports packs and cases. The VMC-HD1 high-definition component cable is currently available for about $40. All can be purchased online at sonystyle.com, at Sony Style® retail stores (www.sonystyle.com/retail), at military base exchanges, and at authorized dealers nationwide. Pre-orders begin on Aug. 23 at www.sonystyle.com.

Dell XPS M1330 Reviews

Basic Design

CNET says The good Unlike the bulky, unattractive 12-inch Dell XPS m1210, the Dell XPS m1330 has clearly been built with an emphasis on good looks and clean lines, ditching the earlier model's cumbersome, rotating Web cam and thick chassis. The system is slightly wedge shaped, going from 0.87 inch in the front to 1.3-inches in the rear. At less than four pounds, it's one of the lightest 13-inch laptops we've seen--nearly a full pound lighter than the popular yet hefty 13-inch Apple MacBook, and a touch lighter than the 12-inch XPS m1210. The bad The biggest drawback we found with the XPS m1330's design was the tiny, 2.75-inch touchpad, which we found to be particularly frustrating given the fact that there's plenty of room on the wrist rest for a bigger pad.

PC Magazine says The Good The great thing about the Dell XPS M1330 is that it manages to incorporate many of the desirable qualities found on Apple, HP, and Sony laptops. The overall design reminds me of the Sony VAIO VGN-SZ370P. It measures 1 inch thick, thanks in large part to an LED screen that's just a quarter of an inch thick. The 13.3-inch screen is significantly larger than the 12-inch screen of its predecessor, the XPS M1210, as well as those of traditional ultraportables. You can pick apart the differences if you place a regular lamp display, such as the one found on the Apple MacBook 13-inch (Core 2 Duo T7200), next to the Dell XPS M1330. The color contrast is noticeably better on the Dell screen's in scenarios such as viewing HD movie trailers and pixel-heavy images. Text is arguably slightly clearer on the XPS M1330 as well. I'm glad Dell went with a transflective screen rather than a matte-finished one, which washes out some of the contrast benefits of an LED screen, as evidenced by the Toshiba Portégé R500. With the XPS M1330, you can opt for a lamp-lit screen and save yourself $150, but an LED display is one of the many extras that I would suggest keeping

NoteBookReview says The Good The Dell XPS M1330 (starting at $1,299) features what can only be described as one of the “sexiest” designs we’ve seen on a Dell notebook. A sleek combination of aluminum and plastic with a colorful paintjob on the back of the screen, this notebook is an ultraportable with style. Measuring as thin as 0.87-inches and weighing 4 pounds, the XPS M1330 is a little heavier than some competing ultrportables but is still remarkably thin and light for a Santa Rosa- equipped notebook.

Keyboard, Ports and other external features

CNET says The Good The keyboard tray is brushed silver with black accents, while the lid is available in black, white, or red. Our review unit had the matte-red finish (Dell calls it Crimson Red), which looks great, but more color options (as with the newly revamped Inspiron line of laptops) would have been welcome. Dell manages to squeeze a good number of extras onto the keyboard tray, including touch-sensitive controls for volume and media playback, an eject button for the slot-loading DVD drive, and a quick-launch button for Dell's proprietary Media Direct software. The biggest drawback we found with the Dell XPS m1330's design was the tiny, 2.75-inch touchpad, which we found to be particularly frustrating given the fact that there's plenty of room on the wrist rest for a bigger pad. Rounding out the laptop's external features are a Webcam on top of the display and a small, credit-card-size remote control that pops into PC card slot on the side. The LED-backlit display, also seen in the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, helps to make the system's lid thinner (less than a quarter-inch thick) while also extending battery life, although users should not expect the display to look any different than a traditional LCD laptop screen. With a native resolution of 1,280x800--the same as on the 13-inch MacBook--you get the best mix of screen real estate and readability. With only two USB ports, some accessory-heavy users may feel shortchanged, but we suspect they'll be few and far between. The HDMI output is a welcome bonus, but we're not sure how useful will be until Dell adds a Blu-ray drive to the configuration options. Wireless 802.11n networking is rapidly becoming the new default for laptops, and we would have been disappointed not to see it here. We were also pleased to see Dell offer an optional mobile broadband antenna, with service from Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint. Our prerelease review unit had a decent set of specs, but we'll have to wait until Dell's online configuration utility is live to see exactly what your options are. We do know the high-end 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 processor is available--our review unit featured a 2.0GHz T7300--as well as your choice of Intel's integrated 3100 graphics or Nvidia's GeForce Go 8400. A non-LED backlit display is also an option, but as it adds weight and thickness; we'd avoid it. Solid-state hard drives and Blu-ray optical drives are promised in the near future, but exact dates for those features making their way to the m1330'a configurator aren't known. The Nvidia GeForce Go 8400 isn't the fastest laptop GPU out there, but it's at the upper end of what you can find outside of 17-inch desktop replacement systems. We got a very playable 33.3 frames per second in Quake 4 at 1,024x768, even with high-end options such as antialiasing turned on, meaning the Dell XPS m1330 has decent gaming chops, as long as your expectations are reasonable. The XPS m1330 ran for two hours and 23 minutes on our DVD battery drain test, using the included six-cell battery. That's not bad, but nearly an hour less than the latest 13-inch MacBook, a testament to Apple's emphasis on battery life. Our DVD battery drain test is especially grueling, so you can expect longer life from casual Web surfing and office use. Dell offers a nine-cell battery option, but it's an exceptionally large battery for such a tiny system.

PC Magazine says The Good The full-size keyboard is as close as you can get to a Lenovo ThinkPad keyboard. Every key, with the exception of the top row (Fn keys), is full-size. As a writer, the size of the arrow keys is vital to my productivity, and Dell makes them just right. Even the mouse buttons and touchpad are reminiscent of the Lenovo ThinkPad T61—minus the pointing stick. Heat is not that big a problem, even though the XPS M1330 uses high-performance parts. The palm rests are warm, but not uncomfortably so. As measured with a Fluke IR thermometer, temperatures got up to 91° F. It helps that the palm rests are covered with brushed aluminum, which acts as a heat retardant. But toward the front bezel, the base got as high as 103°, which is tolerable depending on your sensitivity to heat; I consider anything above 100° uncomfortable. Temperatures decline as you move back toward the battery, which reaches 95°. Overall, I would say the M1330's heat is manageable. Lenovo is in the same boat with its ThinkPad X60 (Vista), whereas Sony's SZ series does a better job of containing heat. In the Dell XPS M1330, you'll get a lot of the same features found on the Sony SZ Series, if not more. Dell emulated Apple laptops by going with a slot-loading DVD burner. This allows for greater flexibility with the design, but that also means you won't have the option of upgrading to larger, specialty drives such as a Blu-ray burner. This is odd because the XPS M1330 comes with an HDMI-out port, which is typically bundled in tandem with a high-definition optical drive and is rare for an ultraportable. But the port is still a valuable asset for video and PowerPoint presenters. Of course, you'll need a display that supports HDMI-in. I suspect Dell will integrate HDMI-out ports across all of its XPS laptops, and it's been added to the M1330 merely for the sake of consistency. You'll find two USB ports, one on each side. The FireWire port and a 160GB hard drive are a boon for video editing. Dell also incorporates two features from HP's Pavilion line to help optimize your media experience. These are a Media Center remote that fits into the ExpressCard slot and two headphone ports for sharing. I think both of these are great additions. The Dell XPS M1330 provides multiple ways to stay connected. Like many high-end ultraportables these days, you have the option of adding a cellular modem. Dell sent my unit with a Sprint EV-DO Rev A card. Although it wasn't activated, the prospect of high-speed Internet access wherever you can get a cell-phone signal is a very attractive feature. With EV-DO Rev A, you're looking at theoretical download speeds of 3.1 Mbps. On top of that, you have draft 802.11n support with the new Centrino Duo specification, Bluetooth, and 100MB Ethernet. Last, you'll find an integrated 1.3-megapixel camera that'll handle all your video chats, whether with Skype, MSN Messenger, or SightSpeed.

NoteBookReview says The Good The keyboard is full sized and very nice with cushioned keys and almost no flex. One surprise was a set of dedicated media keys directly above the keyboard, a nice feature not found on many ultraportable notebooks. What makes these media keys all the more impressive is the fact that they are LED backlit, flush-mount keys that are heat sensitive to touch. Press the keys with a pen and nothing happens … but glide your fingertip over a media key and the key will light up and respond to your touch. In a word, cool. The touchpad provides excellent responsiveness and feels quite nice compared to the “cheap” touchpads found on many other ultrportable notebooks. The plastic touchpad buttons (made to look like brushed aluminum) are well cushioned with a near perfect amount of feedback. The fingerprint reader responds well with a firm, centered finger scan. In addition, the fingerprint reader is recessed so it won’t be accidentally triggered while you type. While some ultraportable notebooks are thinner and lighter than the new XPS M1330, most of these thinner notebooks lack a built-in optical drive. The XPS M1330 comes equipped with an impressive slot-loading dual-layer DVD±RW drive which helps keep the notebook reasonably thin without sacrificing case strength. Compared to the M1210 (right) the front of the Dell XPS M1330 (left) has dual headphone ports, microphone port, and multi-card reader. Compared to the M1210 (right) the front of the M1330 (left) the right side has an ExpressCard slot (Media Center remote), wireless on/off, slot-loading optical drive, USB port, and security lock slot. Again, compared to the M1210 (right) the left side of the M1330 has a power jack, VGA port, USB port, HDMI port, and Firewire port. The port selection of the XPS M1330 is remarkably good for a notebook of this size. In addition, the Dell XPS M1330 comes with a two-megapixel web camera built in directly above the LCD. Unlike almost every notebook webcam currently on the market, the webcam built into the XPS M1330 is a remarkable performer. Brightness, color and contrast are all near perfect, and the face tracking feature lets you keep your face front and center during video conferences. The Bad The media keys are a little close together, so people with large fingertips may find themselves pressing two buttons at once. The only thing remotely negative we can say about the pre-production Dell XPS M1330 keyboard is that the palmrests were noticeably warm even while the notebook was idle. The heat wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was certainly warm. The loading and ejecting functions of the slot-loading drive were a little noisy, but the overall operation was silent.

Overall Verdict for Dell XPS m1330

CNET says Rating: 7.9 out of 10 (Very Good) The good Thin, sexy design; strong performance; backlit-LED display; included media remote control. The bad Small touchpad; some options (SSD hard drives, Blu-ray) not available yet; not as many color options as Dell's new Inspiron line. The bottom line: Dell has finally put design first with the head-turning XPS m1330 laptop, emphasizing both the "thin" and "light" aspects of the thin-and-light category without sacrificing features or performance.

PC Magazine says Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (Very Good) The Good Sleek chassis, thanks to the design overhaul. Integrated optical drive. Discrete graphics. Terrific performance. Great battery life. Video editor's hard drive. EV-DO Rev A option. Various colors to choose from. The Bad: HDMI-Out but no Blu-ray option. Nine-cell battery can turn it into a mainstream-weight laptop. The bottom line: The M1330 takes all the wonderful things from other ultraportables to create an ideal traveling companion.

NoteBookReview says Rating: Not Available The bottom line Overall our first impressions of the sexy (I can’t stop calling it that) Dell XPS M1330 are overwhelmingly positive. If Dell would have put this design on the market two years ago (even with previous generation processors) fewer people would have purchased HP notebooks in 2006. While our complete review remains to be finished, the XPS M1330 is shaping up to be a remarkably well built and full-featured ultraportable notebook.

Related Laptop Reviews:
> Lenovo Thinkpad T61 Reviews

Nintendo and Wii Outstrip Sony

Redherring: Nintendo briefly zipped past Sony in market capitalization on Monday to become one of Japan’s 10 most valuable companies as it elbows the PlayStation maker out of its decade-long dominance of the game industry.
Nintendo joined global household names such as Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, and Canon on the Top 10 list before its shares erased earlier gains and ended the day lower.

The Kyoto-based company finished in 11th place by market value, just above Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial and below Sony. Those companies, the world’s largest and second-largest consumer electronics makers, both have sales more than eight times as big as Nintendo’s.

“It is becoming quite clear that Nintendo is taking back its market share from Sony in the console market while well defending its stronghold of portable games,” Mizuho Securities analyst Takeshi Koyama said.

Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux - Which is more secure?

According to a report released by Jeff Jones, the security strategy director in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group, if you look at the number of publicly disclosed security vulnerabilities during the first 90 days of availability, Windows Vista turned out to be more secure than Windows XP, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Workstation, Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, Ubuntu 6.06 LTS - Reduced Component Set, Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10.8, Novell SLED 10 - Reduced Component Set and Mac OS X v10.4.

Question #1:Is Windows Vista really more secure than Mac and Linux platforms?

Question #2:If, despite reading the report, you’re still convinced that a Mac or Linux platform is more secure than Windows Vista, how do you bend your “reality” around this report?

Go ahead! Post your comments

Microsoft agrees to change Vista

Microsoft Corp. has agreed to modify its Windows Vista operating system in response to a complaint that its computer search function put Google Inc. and other potential rivals at a disadvantage, the Justice Department and Microsoft said on Tuesday.

Under an agreement with the department and 17 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia, Microsoft will build into Vista an option to let users select a default desktop search program on personal computers running Windows.

The function, known as "Instant Search," allows Windows users to enter a search query and get a list of results from their hard drive that contain the search term.

The agreement was made public as part of a joint report that the Justice Department and Microsoft filed late on Tuesday with the court overseeing Microsoft's compliance with a 2002 antitrust consent decree.

As part of the deal, a Microsoft official said the company also had pledged to place links inside the Internet Explorer window and the "Start" navigation menu to make it easier for people to access that default desktop search service.

The changes will be introduced in a service pack, or updated version of Windows Vista software. Microsoft said it anticipates a test version of the Vista Service Pack 1 to be ready by the year-end.

Under the agreement, Microsoft also promised to provide additional technical information to third-party developers, such as Google, in order to optimize the performance of their desktop search service on Vista.

"These remedies are a step in the right direction, but they should be improved further to give consumers greater access to alternate desktop search providers," David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, said in a statement.

The changes stem from a complaint Google filed with the Justice Department in December, in which it argued that a feature built into Vista that allows users to search a computer's hard drive did not leave room for competition from other desktop search applications.

Google said the feature violated the consent decree that monitors Microsoft's conduct as part of its settlement with the government.

"We are pleased that as a result of Google's request that the consent decree be enforced, the Department of Justice and state Attorneys General have required Microsoft to make changes to Vista," Drummond said.

The agreement is expected to be presented to the judge monitoring the consent decree, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, at a June 26 court hearing.

The Microsoft consent decree, which settled the government's landmark antitrust case against the company, is scheduled to expire in November. However, some provisions have been extended to November 2009.

Microsoft has called Google's complaint "baseless" and said it was in compliance with the antitrust settlement.

Source: money.cnn.com

i Want an Apple iPhone and i Want it now!

Attention AT&T employees, Rogers Wireless executives and children of Steve Jobs: If you happen to have an Apple iPhone stashed somewhere, there is an unnamed celebrity living in New York who will pay $10,000 (U.S.) for the gadget.

The four-gigabyte iPhone will be released south of the border on June 29 with a slightly more reasonable price tag of $499 ($599 for an eight-gigabyte model), and the anticipation is clearly getting to some people.

The $10,000 offer was posted on the New York Craig's List website, and bids of up to $1,000 are as common on eBay as unworn wedding dresses.

Photographs of the pop star Madonna holding what may be an iPhone have swept across the Internet, receiving more scrutiny and skepticism than the Zapruder film, and Wired magazine has called the product release date "the June 29 retail rapture."

Excitement about the all-in-one iPod/phone/camera/computer/bragging right has reached a frenzy.

People across the continent are doing their best to be the first kid on the block to press their sweaty fingers against the touch-sensitive screen.

Both Apple and AT&T in the United States have received more than a million inquiries about the phone, and every celebrity within spitting distance of Mr. Jobs seems to be angling for one.

Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert recently made an appeal for the phone on his show The Colbert Report.

"There's some very disturbing news about this so-called revolutionary device: I don't have one yet. You see, I am a celebrity, which means I'm supposed to get things before anyone else," the comedian deadpanned. "But I've been checking my mail every single day since Steve Jobs announced this thing and, so far, I haven't gotten anything, except this stupid book."

Mr. Colbert then held up a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which will be released on July 21.

Even Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt, who is a member of Apple's board of directors, admitted at the D5 digital technology conference at the end of last month that while he has held an iPhone, he does not have one of his own.

"I'm still waiting for mine," he said.

Other bold-faced names have taken a more active approach. Author and blog maven Arianna Huffington went directly to the source, asking Mr. Jobs the best way to score an iPhone.

"Don't go to an Apple store," he reportedly told her. "It will be a madhouse there. People will be lined up around the block, sleeping on the sidewalk to get one. Go to an AT&T ... store. Most people don't know that they will be selling them too."

The website Macdailynews- .com suggests using Google Earth to track down the nearest iPhone retailer, and a Mississauga man has already snatched up the domain name for iPhoneCanada, which posts updates about the product's availability.

The device's legendary status has also earned the highest tribute of today's hipster culture: It's on a T-shirt - Got iPhone?

In Canada, some iPhonephiles are contemplating a pilgrimage to Buffalo or other cities in the northern United States before the device's as-yet-unannounced Canadian release.

Steve Smith of Oakville, Ont., said he will most likely drive to the U.S. in early July to pick up a phone, even though there is no guarantee he will be able to convert it to a Canadian service provider.

"I don't know much about unlocking phones, but I've got a cousin who does, so I'm going to probably turn to him before I go and get one," he said.

Mr. Smith says the frustration of not knowing when he can get an iPhone is almost too much to take, but he would not pay more than the ticket price.

"I've got two teenagers, so I've been through the whole Wii craze and the Tickle Me Elmo phase where you're just paying to say you've got it," he said.

"I've waited a year for this thing now, so I can wait another six months if I have to."

Source:theglobeandmail.com