Gibson

I can almost hear the derisive laughter coming from the executive suite at Activision.

This after the video game giant, the publisher of the monster-hit Guitar Hero III, issued a scathing response to a lawsuit brought against it by its former partner, iconic guitar manufacturer Gibson.

According to the video game blog, Kotaku, Gibson filed suit against Activision, claiming that it owned a 9-year-old patent for "technology to simulate a musical performance."

In a March 11 filing for declaratory relief (Click for PDF), Activision noted that in a January 7, 2008 letter, Gibson attorneys argued that Guitar Hero … Read more

AOL buys social network Bebo for $850 million http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9893014-36.html

MPAA boss: Net neutrality would cramp our P2P snooping plans http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080313-mpaa-boss-net-neutrality-would-cramp-our-p2p-snooping-plans.html http://opinion.latimes.com/bitplayer/ 2008/03/mpaa-clarifies.html

Report: Microsoft says no Blu-ray for Xbox 360 http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9893090-7.html

Blu-ray players: Mighty pricey http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9893149-7.html http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/03/12/ lack-of-competition-sends-blu-ray-player-prices-upward/

David in Vegas: Sony (and Movie Theater owners who charge me $6 for rubbery popcorn in a theater where you can’t (send in an … Read more

There is huge amount of software designed to defend the Windows C disk from the bad guys--antivirus, antispyware, firewalls, yada yada yada. Huge amounts of time, effort, and money is spent defending the C disk. But, there are other approaches.

On his Security Now podcast (Episode 129, January 31, 2008), Steve Gibson discussed a free program from Microsoft called SteadyState that defends the C disk in a different way.

The problem that Gibson was looking to solve was that of a small-business owner, someone who needed to provide computers to employees, but didn't want them installing applications for their … Read more

I could write a whole blog about correcting computer articles in newspapers, pointing out mistakes and omissions. Many times I have corrected and expanded on articles in the Wall Street Journal by Walter Mossberg, but I've also griped about mistakes in the other newspaper I read regularly, my hometown New York Times. Back in May, on my previous blog, my comments on an article that David Pogue wrote in the Times about data cartridges for backing up computer files prompted a surprising rebuttal from Mr. Pogue.

Beats me why major newspapers don't hire computer techies to write about … Read more

When I saw the MacBook Air in person this week at Macworld Expo, I was having a hard time figuring out what about it seemed so familiar. Then I remembered. The G4 Cube. "Overpriced and underconfigured" were the words we used to describe it in our review in 2000, and many of the same complaints could be applied directly to the MacBook Air.

Where the Cube had no PCI slots or additional drive bays, no standard audio input or output jacks, and wouldn't accept full-length graphics cards because of its diminutive size, the Air has no Ethernet … Read more

Yesterday, Gibson Guitars released its self-tuning Robot Guitar. It'll add about $800 to the price of a new guitar (it's available only on mid-range guitars with street prices over $2,000), and will compete against a self-tuning guitar add-on from TransPerfomance, which runs about $3,000, including installation.

The technology behind self-tuning guitars is far from trivial--a CPU in the guitar neck must continually monitor string tension and adjust the pegs accordingly--and I'm sure the demos are fun to watch, but I think the vast majority of guitarists will get a lot more value out of a … Read more

What do you get when you combine a guitar loaded with robotic technology with one of the most talented musicians of this day and age? Hopefully, one hell of a show.

Guitarist/musician/former choir boy Martin Luther will be showcasing Gibson's self-tuning Robot Guitar at a free show in San Rafael, Calif.

Luther, who recorded the critically acclaimed album Rebel Soul Music in 2004 and recently toured with The Roots, will play the Bananas At Large instrument store on Monday, December 3.

Following the show, which starts at 12:30 p.m., there will be a public question-and-answer … Read more

It was bound to happen, given all the madness that appears to have gripped the guitar business: the world's first robot guitar.

The "Gibson Robot Guitar," to be exact, available in its debut next month in "an exclusive Blue Silverburst Les Paul model" before the regular version comes out later next year, according to the company. The robo-tar supposedly can tune all six strings "within a few seconds," Engadget says, with commands from the "Master Control Knob."

But first things first. We're holding out for a teaching version, as it … Read more

Speaking before a standing-room-only crowd at Stacey's Bookstore in San Francisco on Wednesday, William Gibson, the man generally credited with coining the term "cyberspace" in 1982, said the prefix cyber is going away. He said "it's going away like the word 'electro' or 'electra' was used to modify products." He also said the word "digital" is rapidly becoming obsolete as well.

Gibson is on tour for his new, present-day novel Spook Country. The book includes high-tech international terrorism among its many threaded plots. He also makes fun of the word cyberspace within … Read more