On today's show, we talk to Ken Parks, director of content at Spotify, who lays down the one rule of music licensing negotiations: you don't talk about music licensing negotiations! Plus, Amazon's tablet is incoming, 41 percent of Netflix users plan to take their ball and go home, and girl power at the Google science fair!
Subscribe: iTunes (MP3) | iTunes (320x180) | iTunes (640x360) | RSS (MP3) | RSS (320x180) | RSS (640x360)… Read moreActivision is aiming to build the Call of Duty community in a big way. The publisher last month announced Call of Duty Elite, a new service for fans of the military first-person shooter series with a wealth of social-networking bells and whistles. Today, Activision followed that up with the introduction of Call of Duty XP 2011, a convention it dubbed a "celebration" for the game's community.
Set to take place on a 12-acre compound in Los Angeles September 2-3, Call of Duty XP 2011 will serve as a coming-out party for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer mode. An expected 6,000 attendees will be able to get their hands on the game's cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes, as well as check out the fully functioning Elite service for the first time.
Read more of "Call of Duty convention deploys Sept. 2-3" at GameSpot.… Read more
Microsoft appears to be winning a major battle against autorun malware.
A blog post this week by Microsoft's Malware Protection Center said the company discovered 1.3 million fewer infections on Windows Vista and XP caused by autorun malware from mid-February to mid-May, compared with the three months prior.
A persistent security threat for the past several years, autorun malware typically spreads through flash drives, memory cards, and other external devices courtesy of Microsoft's autorun feature, which automatically executes a command when the device is plugged in.
Autorun has been a trigger for some of the "top … Read more
We already embedded the rugged Sonim XP3300 Force in concrete and smashed it against a sidewalk. Other Sonim phones have been cooked on a grill, run over with a car, tossed into a cement mixer, and cleaned in a washing machine. They all survived the PR stunts.
The "Will it Blend?" online show pitted the XP3300 against the powerful Blendtec Total blender. It took only a matter of seconds for the Blendtec to turn an iPhone 4 into something you could pack into a Campbell's soup can.
When the XP3300 came out the other end, it was covered in a pile of phone dust, but it still rang and could make and receive phone calls. The verdict? "Mostly blended." We're going to need a bigger blender.
What did these poor phones do to deserve such treatment? For starters, Sonim calls them the toughest phones in the world. They are built to military-grade specs and come with a three-year warranty that covers accidental damage. That's just asking for punishment.
If you're prone to dropping your phone, running over it with an elephant, or leaving it in the pocket of your wetsuit when you dive down to the Titanic, then the $525 XP3300 may be perfect for you. Sonim's CEO helpfully reminds customers that intentionally blending your XP3300 is not considered "accidental damage."… Read more
Windows 7 is four to five times less vulnerable to malware infections than is Windows XP.
Those are the findings of Microsoft's latest Security Intelligence Report (PDF), which detailed in depth the state of software vulnerabilities, exploits, security breaches, and malware in 2010.
Overall, the study found that infection rates for newer Microsoft operating systems with the latest service packs are consistently lower than those for older OSes, giving Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 the highest marks for security.
Looking at the number of reported infections per 1,000 computers, Microsoft found that Windows 7 64-bit had … Read more
The joke's on you, Sonim XP300 Force. You taunted me with your thick rubber sidings and waterproof, mud-flap-protected charger port and headphone jacks. You bragged with your impressive laundry list of certifications for withstanding heat, cold, humidity, dust, salt, and shock. You laughed in the face of water.
But now you're cracked, over, kaput. Spilling shards of glass as effortlessly as a dog shakes of water after a swim. All I did was toss you a few feet into the air. It's true; I have it on video.
OK, so maybe it could have been a few … Read more
Burly and coated in ridged rubber, the forthcoming Sonim XP3300 Force can take its share of abuse.
Rugged phones are sturdy, but certainly not indestructible. That said, this "Force" fared better encased in concrete than Han Solo did in carbonite, and it also passed our dunk test. Several enhancements kick it up a notch from some other Sonim phones. We'll have a more in-depth look in our hands-on review, so stay tuned. In the meantime, see the dust-covered contours of the XP3300 Force filmed just today in our San Francisco headquarters.
BARCELONA, Spain--Sonim added another rugged handset to its burly lineup today when it revealed the Sonim XP3300 at Mobile World Congress.
Like its earlier XP3 and XP1300 Core, the XP3300 is built to withstand just about anything. You can submerge it in 6.5 feet of water and drop it from 6.5 feet onto a concrete floor without a scratch.
The fiberglass body and rubber sidings also protect it from dust, salt, fog, humidity, transport shock, thermal shock, and temperatures ranging from -4 degrees to 131 degrees Fahrenheit. What's more, Corning Gorilla Glass protects the 2-inch display.
Designed … Read more
About half of IT professionals intend to carry on using Windows XP even after extended support for the venerable operating system ends in 2014, according to a survey.
The survey, carried out by Dimension Consulting on behalf of Dell's Kace systems management appliance business, quoted 48 percent of respondents as saying they would continue to use XP without support, while 47 percent said they would upgrade when support for XP is discontinued after April 8, 2014. After that date, no further security updates will be issued for the OS.
Read more of "Half of IT pros plan to use XP after support ends&… Read more
The Joby Gorillatorch Blade is the latest in a line of hands-free flashlights that includes the Gorillatorch Original and the Gorillatorch Flare. While all three 'torches feature Joby's trademark flexible, bendable legs--a feature that originally debuted on the Gorillapod line of tripods--the Blade differentiates itself with an all-new chassis for the lamp and a few new features. It's also the most expensive, which may be a turn-off for casual users.
Starting with the Gorillatorch Blade's flashlight, the unit features an anodized black aluminum tube chassis that's about 6.25 inches long and 1.33 inches thick. The unit is IPX-5 water-resistant, which means you could probably douse it with a hose or rinse it in a sink, but you probably don't want to go submerging it. The unit's design also lends a bit of inherent shock-resistance. Dropping this guy onto concrete may mar the finish, but the functionality probably won't be affected.
Located at the business end of the lamp is the CREE XLamp XP-C LED. When Joby calls this guy ultra-bright, it's not just blowing smoke. Standard output from this LED is 65 lumens, which matches the output of the Gorillatorch Original and proved to be more than bright enough for most of the uses we could think of. However, for users who need even more brightness, the Blade also features a boost mode that doubles the output to 130 lumens for a moment or for up to a three-minute burst. By twisting the head of the flashlight, users are also able to adjust the cone of light emitted by the Blade, widening it to a 160-degree flood or narrowing it to a 30-degree spotlight.… Read more
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Christina Milian and the gadgets she loves
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