Steam data shows quick shift to Windows 7 for Steam gamers
Data acquired by Valve’s Steam gaming delivery service shows that a large portion of its users have already decided to switch to Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows 7. Although it can be installed on Windows Vista, Microsoft has essentially tied DirectX 11 to the new operating system by working with Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to maximize its potential for more realistic graphics, improved multimedia performance and other features in Windows 7.
Microsoft sees the potential in Windows 7 offloading tasks to graphics hardware to take the load off of the CPU; certainly not a new concept at all, but one that the Redmond-giant wants to give a bigger role to for even common tasks. Valve data gotten directly from users’ computers show that around 23 percent of its users have moved to Windows 7.
Combined with Vista users, about half of all Valve users are capable of installing DirectX 11 on the software side, although Steam is not keeping track of users with DirectX 11 hardware installed yet.
The data also shows that users are installing the 64-bit versions of Windows 7 as opposed to the 32-bit versions. Over 80 percent of Steam users are using multi-core system, with 24 percent running quad-core chips. This data guides Steam in making programming decisions, and is useful for game developers to have in hand. DirectX 11-capable cards haven’t been on the market for too long, but ATI claims to have sold over 2 million already.
Justice Department supports $675k file sharing verdict
The Justice Department has vocally supported the awarding of $675,000 in damages to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) from a Massachusetts student for sharing 30 songs illegally on the Internet. The department said that copyright infringement, “creates a public harm that Congress determined must be deterred.”
The comments aren’t very surprising, since several former RIAA lawyers do serve in high positions. The student in question is Joel Tenenbaum, a Boston University graduate student, who is only the second person to go to trial against the RIAA following a P2P lawsuit. Over 30,000 such claims were made, almost all of which have resulted in settlements for a few thousand dollars.
The Copyright Act allows for fines ranging from $750 to $150,000 per infringement. After the Jury verdict in Tenenbaum’s case, his defense team mounted a legal challenge against the damages, claiming they were unconstitutional on the grounds that they were disproportionate to the harm done to the industry by the crime.
“The current damages range provides compensation for copyright owners because, inter alia, there exist situations in which actual damages are hard to quantify,” the Justice Department wrote. “Furthermore, in establishing the range, Congress took into account the need to deter the millions of users of new media from infringing copyrights in an environment where many violators believe they will go unnoticed.”
Tenenbaum’s legal team is attempting to bring the damages down to $750 per infringement.
Internet Explorer 9 will feature tabbed browsing upgrades
Microsoft has recently filed a patent relating to the upcoming Windows Explorer 9 web browser that will enhance the functionality of tabbed browsing and tab management.
Neowin says the patents (pictures at end of article) describe “a system and method for selecting a tab within a tabbed browser.”
The patent was filed in September of last year, and shows that IE8’s “quick tabs” feature will be upgraded substantially. In addition to thumbnails of all open tabs, users will be able to drag and move the tabs from within the Quick Tabs page. Thumbnails will enlarge when you hover over them with the mouse, allowing for an easier preview of the page.
Microsoft shakes up E&D unit
Microsoft has confirmed some major organizational changes to its Entertainment and Devices unit following the departure of Corporate Vice President Enrique Rodriguez, who has reportedly decided to pursue other interests. Under Rodriquez were teams for Zune Software & Services, Mediaroom IPTV and Media Center. Those have now been moved to Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB).
The IEB division is also part of Entertainment and Devices, and is in charge of Xbox development, Games for Windows and Microsoft Game Studios. “As a natural evolution of the Interactive Entertainment Business, our consumer products and experiences focused on games, movies, TV and music will move into IEB, led by SVP Don Mattrick. In addition, we’ve formed a new centralized E&D services infrastructure team, which will act as a combined resource across the division,” a spokesperson said.
“Finally, Enrique Rodriguez has decided to move on from his leadership position running the TV, video and music business and is evaluating his next career opportunity. The TVM first party business, Zune and Windows Medica Center will move to IEB, and Mediaroom, the TV platform business, will become a standalone group within E&D, reporting directly to (E&D) President Robbie Bach.”
The move has led to speculation that Microsoft may also move Windows Mobile away from the Entertainment and Devices unit, and put it under President Steven Sinofsky, who heads up development and strategies for Windows, Internet Explorer and Windows Live. Such a move would signal a change in the way Microsoft views the market for software developed for mobile platforms.
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Chrome OS, browser, will have own media player
Speaking with Ars Technica in an extensive internet, Google’s Matthew Papakipos, the engineering director for the Chrome OS project, revealed that the operating system and the Chrome browser would include a media player. He said it would be the “equivalent of Windows Media Player.” The player will support HTML5 audio and video, as well as Flash, and will be integrated with services on the web.
For example, a GMail user can view an attached video file directly in the Chrome browser because the media player framework is built-in. Google’s Chrome operating system allows users to perform every day tasks such as checking e-mail, using social networking or just browsing the web. It is meant to provide long battery life for netbook users in particular.
The inclusion of a Chrome Media Player is then a necessity for users to be able to perform simple multimedia tasks offline. The operating system is still a work in progress by far, as Papakipos reveals that the team is still experimenting with many issues, such as ways to make use of dead space on widescreen monitors (the areas to the right and left of a web page that are blank, and may be quite large amounts of space depending on screen size).
Video Daily: Palm Pre Plus running 50 apps simultaneously
PreCentral has compared the older Palm Pre smartphone with the new Palm Pre Plus and it appears that the new handset, which features double the RAM and storage space, can run up to 50 apps simultaneously, whereas the original starts to hurt at around 13.
Bluesman, record company dismiss copyright lawsuit
Kinney Lee Malone, son of former popular Mississippi bluesman Junior Kimbrough and the record label Fat Possum Records have decided to dismiss a copyright lawsuit filed in 2008, where Malone was seeking about $1 million and royalties.
U.S. District judge W. Allen Pepper said this week the case was closed as both sides agreed to dismiss it.
It is unclear whether there was any financial settlement between the two parties.
Kimbrough died in 1998 and had a few hit songs in his life. Malone sued FPR claiming they were using the songs without permission and were not paying royalties.
Microsoft to display actual currency prices next to virtual MS Points
Responding to complaints, Xbox group product manager Aaron Greenberg has said that the company does not want to mislead consumers with MS Points and will be looking to display actual currency prices next to the MS Points for all content.
“We never intended to mislead people,” Greenberg said, via G4. “We want to be transparent about it, and so it is something that we’re looking at.”
“How can we be more transparent and let people see it in actual dollars? You’ve got to think that we have one service that we’re offering around the world. The nice thing about Points is that no matter if you’re on the JPY or the EUR or the USD – something that’s 200 Points is 200 Points everywhere around the world. There’s more technical complexities to being able to put local prices in. You have to do that for every product in every country and you then have to deal with currency fluctuations. So there’s some challenges to that, but we absolutely did it with the Games On Demand, response has been good and absolutely it’s something we’re looking at doing,” he concluded.
YouTube now supports HTML5 videos
According to the latest official blog, YouTube has now released an experimental version of an HTML5-supported player, giving users their “number one request” for new updates.
To join the beta, Google links to this page, as long as you have an HTML5-supportive browser: http://www.youtube.com/html5
The full post:
A while ago, YouTube launched a simple demo of an HTML5-based video player. Recently, we published a blog post on our pre-spring cleaning effort and your number one request was that YouTube do more with HTML5. Today, we’re introducing an experimental version of an HTML5-supported player.
HTML5 is a new web standard that is gaining popularity rapidly and adds many new features to your web experience. Most notably for YouTube users, HTML5 includes support for video and audio playback. This means that users with an HTML5 compatible browser, and support for the proper audio and video codecs can watch a video without needing to download a browser plugin.
Our support for HTML5 is an early experiment, and there are some limitations. HTML5 on YouTube doesn’t support videos with ads, captions, or annotations and it requires a browser that supports both the video tag and h.264 encoded video (currently that means Chrome, Safari, and ChromeFrame on Internet Explorer). We will be expanding the capabilities of the player in the future, so get ready for new and improved versions in the months to come.
EA already working on games for the Apple Tablet
According to new reports, Electronic Arts is already working on games for the upcoming Apple Tablet, and that Apple entrusted the company to create games that would highlight the tablet’s “gaming capabilities.”
The tablet is expected to be unveiled, after years of hype, on January 27th at an Apple event.
All reports have the device as a 10.1-inch multi-touch capable tablet, with an included e-book reader, as well as Wi-Fi, 3G, TV, and gaming capabilities.
Although consumers have made it clear they will not pay more than $700 for the device, many analysts believe the expensive tablet will weigh in at $999.
