Lips. It’s like SingStar but with added percussion. You use the wireless microphones to sing along to the words onscreen, and fill in drums, cymbal crashes and tambourine shakes with a wave of  the motion sensitive mic.

There are 40 songs to choose from, as well as the ability to plug your mp3 player into the console to warble over tracks stored on that. It uses original artist videos, and dampens the vocal track so you can lay your own singing over the top.

Details about pricing and some of the specific features were sketchy, but it’s slated for a Christmas release.

On first impressions, it looked a lot like SingStar, albeit with a little bit of Rock Band thrown in. Should be quite fun!

Thanks for reading!
- Alex

Testers are being sought for technology that may help TV migrate to the net.
The P2P Next project has created a trial, or beta, version of software that can stream video across a file-sharing network. The EU has put 19m euros into the project hoping the software the team creates will become a Europe-wide standard for broadcasters. The P2P Next team are looking for thousands to sign up to give the technology a good workout.

Testers are being sought for technology that may help TV migrate to the net.

Stream and serve
Many broadcasters, such as the BBC with its iPlayer, are already using the net to let viewers catch up with programmes they missed. Most of these systems use a central server to stream programmes to those that want to watch them. However, most believe that TV via the net delivered this way will be unsustainable when huge audiences venture online for shows. In a bid to create a system that can support huge audiences, the SwarmPlayer draws on the widely used BitTorrent peer-to-peer technology. In such a system those watching a video share the data they are downloading with others, peers, who want to watch the same show. The SwarmPlayer lets people download TV shows to watch later, lets them watch video as it is being downloaded and can even cope with live broadcasts.

The P2P Next project now wants thousands of people to install the software to see how it handles large audiences and whether picture quality suffers as the numbers of users rises. Windows and Linux versions of the software are available with a Mac version due soon.

Those wanting to take part must have a broadband net connection speed of at least 600kbps or higher. Those downloading and installing the software will be able to see how it handles a live stream and a pre-recorded broadcast.

The P2P Next project is scheduled to run for four years and the SwarmPlayer is likely to be the first of many prototypes it produces.

Thanks For Reading!
- Alex

Windows 7 (formerly known as Blackcomb and Vienna) is the working name for the next major version of Microsoft Windows as the successor to Windows Vista. Microsoft has announced that it is “scoping Windows 7 development to a three-year timeframe”, and that “the specific release date will ultimately be determined by meeting the quality bar.” Windows 7 is expected to be released by 2009 or near January 2010. The client versions of Windows 7 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. A server variant, codenamed Windows Server 7, is also under development.

Microsoft is maintaining a policy of silence concerning discussion of plans and aspirations for Windows 7 as it focuses on the release and marketing of Windows Vista, though some early details of various core operating system features have emerged. As a result, little is known about the feature set, though public presentations from company officials have disseminated information about some features. Leaked information from people to whom Milestone 1 (M1) of Windows 7 was shipped also provides some insight into the feature set.

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- Alex

Mozilla has officially made history with a new Guinness world record for the largest number of software downloads in a 24-hour period. The final record breaking 8,002,530 downloads for Firefox 3.0 took place in June with parties in over 25 countries. “The enthusiasm and creativity of Firefox fans was key to making this happen” said Marketing head Paul Kim. Gareth Deaves of Guinness World Records called it “an extremely impressive accomplishment”. The official figure was confirmed after logs from download servers were audited and checked to ensure duplicate and unfinished downloads were not counted. Marketing manager Mary Colvig said no party is planned to celebrate the record until the actual certificate is presented by Guinness World Records in London next week.

The company said while IE reached a record low last month, it predicted Firefox will break the 20% share bar sometime this month. Mr Kim said “We offer the best browsing experience and this shows people are getting the message and voting with their browser choice.” Meanwhile Mozilla has shipped a high priority update for Firefox 2.0, warning that there are at least five serious vulnerabilities that could lead to code execution attacks. Mr Kim said Mozilla will continue to support Firefox 2.0 until the middle of December. After that users will be expected to switch over to Firefox 3.0 which since its launch over two weeks ago boasts 28 million downloads and counting.

Source: BBC

Computer security researchers from ETH Zurich, Google, and IBM believe computer software would be more secure if, like a perishable food product, it were labeled with an expiration date. In a newly published paper, Stefan Frei and Martin May of the Computer Engineering and Networks Laboratory at ETH Zurich, Thomas Dubendorfer of Google Switzerland, and Gunter Ollmann of IBM Internet Security Systems make this recommendation because they found that 637 million (45.2%) out of 1.4 billion Internet users worldwide are at risk from their failure to use the latest, most secure version of their chosen Internet browsers. “Given the state of the software industry and the growing threat of exploitable vulnerabilities within all applications (not just Web browsers), we believe that the establishment of a ‘best before’ date for all new software releases could prove an invaluable means to educating the user to patch or ‘refresh’ their software applications,” the paper says.

The issue of browser security matters more these days because more and more malware is targeting Web browser vulnerabilities. Remotely exploitable vulnerabilities have been on the rise since 2000 and accounted for 89.4% of vulnerabilities reported in 2007, according to the study, which claims that “growing percentage of these remotely exploitable vulnerabilities are associated with Web browsers.” Among the various Web browsers studied — Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, Safari 3, and Opera 9 — Firefox 2 is the most secure, according to the study. Firefox 2 is considered to be the most secure Web browser because 83.3% of its users worldwide are running the most current version. Second, third, and fourth places go to Apple Safari 3 (65.3% of users running the most current version), Opera 9 (56.1%), and Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (47.6%).

Source: InfoWeek

Software giant Microsoft will stop selling its ubiquitous XP operating system on Monday. But that doesn’t mean the seven-year-old software won’t continue contributing to the company’s financial performance for years to come. Terminating XP was expected. It comes just 18 months after Redmond, Wash.- based Microsoft introduced a new, more advanced operating system called Vista. While the new system is powerful, upgrading means spending lots of time and money to rework applications designed to run XP specifically. As a result, some companies, including Microsoft partner Intel Corp, have balked at adopting Vista, preferring instead to continue using XP.

Though Monday will be the last day Microsoft sells XP or provides free support for the “hundreds of thousands” of computers that are estimated to run on it, the company has come up with a novel way to wring money from the aging operating system: It is killing XP but isn’t letting it die. One way Microsoft will still make money from XP is by charging to provide support. Because the software continues to be popular, Microsoft’s “extended” support program is sure to generate lots more revenue. Microsoft will offer the program at least through 2014. That will likely attract lots of big corporate customers. Meanwhile, Microsoft will make more money by supplying XP to computer makers Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and others. Because Vista has had trouble making headway in the corporate market, computer makers have asked for “downgrade rights” - the right to continue offering XP on their notebook and desktop computers after.

Source: CNN

Beatles music may soon be strumming a new tune via air guitar video games, according to a report in the Financial Times. Apple Corps and EMI, which respectively represent The Beatles’ business interests and ownership of its master recordings, have reportedly been in discussions with video game publishers Activision and MTV Games.Under a possible deal that could be worth several million dollars, users could put their air guitar to use while listening to The Beatles and playing Activision’s Guitar Hero or MTV’s Rock Band games, according to the report.

The move to push The Beatles’ music onto a new stage via video games could occur within the coming weeks, the Financial Times reported. Such a move would mark a change in embracing technology for The Beatles’ music, given that digital-use licenses for Beatles recordings are not yet available. The Beatles representatives, as well as the game publishers, declined to confirm whether a deal is on the horizon.

Source: Cnet

Graduation time is near for most students at Tesoro High School in Orange County California. However, two students are facing the prospect of beginning a prison term rather than walking across the stage to receive their diplomas. One of the teens faces the possibility of 38 years in prison.The two teens, Omar Khan and Tanvir Singh, have been charged with multiple felony counts. Khan’s chargers are by far the most severe with a total of 69 felony counts pending against him including identity theft, second degree burglary, computer access and fraud, removing and secreting a public record and altering and falsifying a public record.

The charges stem from Khan’s attempt to hack into his teachers computer using a stolen password to change his low grades to A’s and B’s. Khan is also alleged to have tried to install spyware to allow him access to the schools secure network remotely. In addition to attempting to change his own grades, Khan is also accused of trying to change the grades of 12 other students. Khan was found out when he requested a school transcript in order to appeal a denial of admission to the University of California for the coming fall semester. An investigation was started after school administrators noticed discrepancies in Khan’s grades. That investigation resulted in the officials finding Khan had original tests, answers and copies of his altered grades.

Source: DailyTech

Apple on Thursday said music sales on its iTunes store have topped 5 billion songs, and visitors are renting and purchasing more than 50,000 movies each day. Apple, which has surpassed Wal-Mart as the leading music retailer in the United States, put out a brief press release on the latest numbers, offering no further details. The company has a catalog of more than 8 million songs, 20,000 TV shows, and 2,000 films, including 350 in high-definition format. In announcing on April 3 that it had surpassed Wal-Mart, Apple said that it had sold more than 4 billion songs through iTunes. Given that announcement was 77 days ago, that would mean the company has sold nearly 13 million songs a day since then. Apple was not immediately available for comment.

Apple has gotten in trouble before for its iTunes math. In late April, the company said it offered 10 million songs on its 5-year-old store, but later ratcheted the number down to 6 million songs. In August 2007, the company said it had 5 million songs. Apple’s movie collection includes titles from 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Sony Pictures Television International, and Lionsgate. ITunes will rent and sell movies on the same day as their DVD release. Customers using Mac or Windows operating systems must have iTunes 7.6.2 or higher to buy or rent the movies.

Source: InfoWeek

Firefox 3, the recently released open source browser from Mozilla, has claimed that over 8 million copies of the software were downloaded on Download Day. The company stated early that their goal was to surpass the initial release of Firefox 2, at 1.6 million downloads in 24 hours, and hit 5 million downloads. The goal of the marketing campaign is to set a Guinness World Record for most downloaded software in a single day. A few days have passed and, barring the server downtime that plagued users for a few hours, the results look promising for Mozilla’s world record attempt. According to the official Mozilla blog, Firefox 3 easily cruised past 5 million user downloads. “We exceeded 8 million downloads in our 24 hour period,” the blog states. Downloads were tracked from 11:16am PDT on June 17th to 11:16am PDT on the following day.

The next step in the process is for Firefox 3 to be certified by Guinness World Records. To help get their audit logs in order, Mozilla has brought on two external judges: Paul Vixie, of the Internet Systems Consortium, and Corey Shields, of the University of Indiana’s University of Information Technology Services. Once the two judges and Mozilla feel confident that their download logs are in order, they will be handed over to the people at Guinness World Records for verification. If the attempt is verified, Firefox 3 will be the first recipient of the most software downloaded in a single day record. The process of having a record certified by Guinness can take two different paths. If Mozilla chooses not to expedite the service, the results will be released in four to six weeks. On the other hand, if the company opts for Fast Review, the results could be available in three days from the time the logs are submitted.

Source: CRN