By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Spore is the highly anticipated new game by Will Wright. Typically before buying anything at Amazon.com I’ll check the reviews, and I were to look at Spore’s, I’d think it was a crummy game. The reviews average out to 1 star, with 20 five-stars, 12 four-, 6 three-, 18 two- and 626 one-star ratings.

But it’s not because of the game; it’s because of the DRM. Spore uses SecuROM, the nearly universally hated PC game copy protection system. Many claim that SecuROM uses “rootkit” technology, commonly used by malware (and Sony!), to hide files from the user, and that uninstalling the game leaves SecuROM garbage lying around.

Of course, the aim of the reviewers is a) to warn buyers of SecuROM being in the game, since it’s not on the box; and b) teach (?) EA a lesson by lowering the rating so far no one buys it.

It’s doubtful that will happen, but I personally will never buy a game with SecuROM on it.

Spore’s SecuROM limits the purchaser to a maximum number of three installations before requiring the owner to contact EA for a “fix.”

Here’s a sampling of the responses on Amazon.com:

Erich Maria Remarque:

First of all, the game incorporates a draconian DRM system that requires you to activate over the internet, and limits you to a grand total of 3 activations. If you reach that limit, then you’ll have to call EA in order to add one extra activation. That’s not as simple as it sounds, since when you reach that point EA will assume that you, the paying customer, are a filthy pirating thief.

Brian Fox:

DRM is a show stopper. I doubt this game will work for me after a few years given my habit of new hardware purchases and system snapshots. Like others have said, this game is for rent not sale.

J. Stewart:

The DRM on this thing is less friendly than my recent colonoscopy- You get three installs. That’s it. No install returned for uninstallation, or anything else. You install it three times, then you’re out $50. No, thank you, EA.

Fox News Sucks:

The DRM for the game utilizes securom which is essentially a virus that installs itself without warning when you install the game. There is no way to completely remove it without reformatting and it is constantly running in the background if not removed. Sucking up computer resources.

You may recall the reaction to the SecuROM DRM on Bioshock was much the same.

And this is one reason why,when I buy a game, I typically will try to find a no-CD or no-DVD crack for a game when I buy it. I don’t want DRM on my system and I’d rather not use the optical disc every time.

Of course, as I said, there’s no way I’d buy a SecuROM-protected game. Also, generally speaking, most games, after they’ve been out for a while, will release a patch to remove the DRM from the game. I’ll at least wait for that.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Poor Symantec. Last time we visited an issue like this, users upgrading to Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1 were experiencing registry corruption due to Symantec’s SymProtect feature preventing one of Microsoft’s fixccs.exe from deleting some entries.

Now it appears that Symantec’s security products have been having issues co-existing with Firefox 3. The issues have existed since Firefox 3 launched, but Mozilla’s recent decision to start alerting 2.0.x users to update to 3.0.1 gave the issue more publicity.

It’s become such an issue it was even discussed at last week’s Firefox 3.1 status meeting.

Problems have ranged from erased bookmarks and browser history, as well as loss of use of Identity Safe, a password management program included in Norton Internet Security (NIS) 2008, similar to Roboform, which I use.

Mozilla has gone so far as to create a Norton 360 configuration page to help alleviate these issues.

Symantec has two patches, one for NIS and one for Norton 360, both of which are available via Symantec’s LiveUpdate service. However, some are still having issues with Identity Safe, as indicated at the support forum link above.

According to Mike Beltzner, Mozilla’s director for Firefox, older versions of Norton security software seem to prevent Firefox from shutting down properly.

“When the user starts up Firefox the next time, the file that’s used to store their bookmarks and history can’t be read, and as a result, the back and forward buttons don’t work and no bookmarks are shown. This coincides with the Identity Safe feature not working as well.”

Symantec’s products have been widely criticized for being tough on both memory and CPU utilization. Their 2009 versions, still in public beta, have, according to Symantec, been engineered to be much lighter on system resources.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

For those of you who were anxiously awaiting the release of Google Chrome, the new browser that Google just announced yesterday, Google had an 11 AM PDT press conference, and dished the details, as well as the download.

The download is available at http://code.google.com/p/chromium/ (which is the main site; actual download is at http://www.google.com/chrome. The link went live at 12 PM PDT.

For those wondering, as I was, how the comic came about, Google said:

Scott McCloud is “a legend in the comic world,” and has handled complex topics. He was “embedded with the team.”

After trying it out for just a short while, here are some impressions:

• It’s pretty sparse, meaning it functions well as a browser, but some of the niceties I like about Firefox are missing (such as ad blocking, tab sessions, and the like).
• Oh, come on: double-click to close a tab should at least be an option.
• Incognito windows (AKA private browsing, AKA porn mode) are available.
• Did I mention no ad blocking (of course, there are 3rd-party blockers that work as proxy servers that would work).
• For the life of me, I didn’t realize how much I would miss the lack of a “Home” button to take me to my Home page.
• Check out the way a new tab looks (click the logo above). The program will “learn” your favorite sites and put them as shortcuts in a new tab. Pretty cool, though I’d like the option to override that if I want.
• It’s fast. How much of that is the lack of bloat due to the relative barebones-ness, though? Will all that speed disappear as Chrome becomes more feature-laden?
• The Omnibox is much like Firefox 3’s Awesome bar, but Tab-to-Search (which allows you to type a site name and then a search term) is pretty cool.
• I’d like some 3rd-party toolbar support, such as (for me) the oft-used Roboform.

Clearly, Google still has plenty of work to do. But as a first cut (not even sure I’d call it a beta) it’s decent.

Any readers out there have some comments?

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

After an odd leak in which a comic penned by none other than Scott McCloud, writer of the classic Understanding Comics, was accidentally emailed, revealing the technology, Google went live with the info that tomorrow they will be releasing a beta of a new browser, called Chrome (site is still not live), in over 100 countries.

A Google browser has been rumored for years, as it would be a natural extension of their pervasive web-related technologies. Of course, it’s interesting that just last week Google extended its support of the Mozilla Foundation until 2011.

Both the comic (now put up for all to see) and Google’s press release give details on the new browser. ‘Course, a comic is a lot more fun to read.

The book is broken into five parts: More

By Jimmy Daniels of Windows Tips
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

I swiped this title from a comment on the Tech Blog at the Houston Chronicle.

Microsoft this week has begun updating its WGA piracy “tool” for Windows XP, available for download here if you are feeling lucky. Why would they update the tool for XP, which is no longer available for purchase, even though you can still get it from some computer manufacturers? (I believe it was mainly on business computers, such as the ones sold by Dell SMB, but, I haven’t looked in awhile to know for sure.) The only reason I can come up with is maybe Microsoft is expecting users to install some of their copies of XP on multiple computers or are looking for pirated versions online so they don’t have to use the latest version of Windows, Vista. Another reason would be to get more people using Vista and off of XP, whether by accident or because it’s a pirated copy, it probably won’t matter too much to Microsoft.

This time around they are limiting it to the most pirated version of XP, Windows XP Professional, and other versions based on that code, such as the Tablet and Windows Media Center editions, so if you are using a pirated copy of the Home edition, you are in the clear. This should give a boost to pirated copies of the Home version, as their was really no reason to get it over the professional version before. A copy of XP that has been flagged as non-genuine will have the desktop background changed every 60 minutes, a watermark above the system tray, the pre-logon message, the logon interrupt message and the messages that appear from the system tray. They do say that we want it, even though many people had trouble with WGA when it first came out.

One is that in recent research, customers (particularly the ones using genuine software - or at least that think they are) have told us that they would prefer the simplest, shortest way of installing. Our research has clearly shown that customers value the ability of Windows to alert them when they may have software that is not genuine, but they also want the ability to stay up to date with the least effort required on their part. Source: Windows Genuine Advantage Blog

We Say: This is surely only for the less technical Windows XP “pirate” or someone trying to install XP on multiple machines, as most advanced “pirates” probably have automatic updates turned off, or set so they can choose which updates to install. This, like all DRM issues, affect everyone and not just the pirated copies, as seen by looking at the Windows XP Genuine Advantage Validation Issues Forum at Microsoft and by the post I linked to from Ed Bott who guestimated that 42% of the users with issues had genuine copies of XP. The least likely affected are the pirates themselves and this will surely result in some “extra” sales of Vista from people who don’t know how to resolve it. Someone has already made a background image for people, here, in case you are looking to mess with your co-workers and give them the Black Desktop of Death. It will be interesting to see where this file is located in Windows and how easy it is to change it.

Anyone seeing any false positives yet?

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Private browsing means browsing the web without leaving “tracks,” such as cookies, history, cache data, etc., etc. This has been popularly called “porn mode.” Only Safari currently supports this feature; it was pulled from Firefox 3 (there is, however, an add-on called Stealther some use).

Some hints around the web seem to point IE8 containing such a “mode.” For one, a June 24, 2008 IE blog post on “IE8 and Trustworthy browsing” says (emphasis mine):

That said, there’s more to online privacy than cookies, as cookies are only one implementation of content that can disclose information to websites. In some discussions, people have also described IE7’s Phishing Filter as a privacy feature because it helps protect users from sharing information. The larger challenge here is notifying users clearly about what sites they’re disclosing information to and enabling them to control that disclosure if they choose. As we talk more about privacy, we will broaden the discussion to include additional protections from sharing information that the browser can offer users.

More evidence, , IStartedSomething noticed that Microsoft filed two trademarks on July 30th. They were for:

CLEARTRACKS

IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: computer programs for accessing and using the Internet and the world wide web; and computer programs for deleting search history after accessing websites

INPRIVATE

IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: computer programs for accessing and using the Internet and the world wide web; computer programs for disabling the history and file caching features of a web browser; and computer software for notifying a user of a web browser when others are tracking web use and for controlling the information others can access about such use

Although “private browsing” didn’t get into Firefox 3, they do have a “use case” page for it. It states that:

Many people believe that the primary use case for private browsing mode is viewing pornography. While viewing pornography may be a popular use case due to the nature of content on the Web, assuming that this is the only reason that users need private browsing trivializes the overall feature. For instance, users may wish to begin a private browsing session to research a medical condition, or plan a surprise vacation or birthday party for a loved one. Use cases will range from users cheating on their spouse, to users buying engagement rings. Given the breadth of our user base, specific use cases are likely to be extremely varied.

Yes, I guess that “porn mode” nickname does trivialize it. Interesting that they mention “cheating on their spouse.” I guess they ran out of non-controversial use cases after “planning a birthday party.”

Here’s one: watch Forensic Files and see how many people get caught because they don’t delete their browser cache.

OK, OK, all in fun, but seriously, if IE8 gets this, Firefox will be missing a feature IE supports. Dang.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

OK, Microsoft, I’d better not hear about this being called a Vista Ultimate Extra. After all, we’re still waiting for those wonderfully missing Extras you promised Vista Ultimate buyers.

On the other hand, since this is scheduled to be a freebie that will add Active Storage Platform, Blu-Ray media and smart-card driver functionality to Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008, maybe I should stop complaining and start applauding.

This pack was available as an undisclosed private beta until recently, but now info on the pack is available for the public to peruse on the Microsoft Connect site, whether by design or accident:

Welcome to the Microsoft Connect website for the Windows Feature Pack for Storage.

There are 3 technologies available for this Pre-Release-Each will have its own installer:

• Active Storage Platform: This pre-release package enables the Windows platform to restrict access to portable devices (such as a USB Flash Device) via a certificate or password authentication based on the IEEE 1667 standard specification.

• Image Mastering API update for Blu-Ray media: This feature enables the Windows platform to do master style optical burning on Blu-Ray media.

• Smart Card Driver: This release provides support for new form factors, such as ICCD/CCID.

According to ZDNet Microsoft added the following information:

“The (forthcoming storage pack) release is a follow-on to the feature pack released in 2007, which provided down-level optical platform support. The current feature pack plans to update the optical platform as well as provide support for some additional storage devices. The release plans have not been announced.”

An anonymous tester also said the following:

“It’s going to be one of these free updates that doesn’t necessarily create a lot of buzz, but once it’s out and people are use to it, they’ll wonder how they ever lived with out it…especially the ability in the base OS (operating system) to control removable media.”

Sounds great. I can hardly wait (all right, all right, I can). Now, about those Extras …

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Remember NetShare, the iPhone tethering app that went up, down, up, and finally down (probably forever)? It turns out, even though some users managed to snag it before Apple took it down, if they wanted to, they could remotely blacklist and kill the app.

Jonathan Zdziarski, author of the upcoming book iPhone Forensics, has revealed an URL that he suggests Apple is using to keep a list of any “offending” applications: https://iphone-services.apple.com/clbl/unauthorizedApps. Right now, the only content on that page is:

{ “Date Generated” = “2008-08-07 02:53:53 Etc/GMT”; “BlackListedApps” = { “com.mal.icious” = { “Description” = “Being really bad!”; “App Name” = “Malicious”; “Date Revoked” = “2004-02-01 08:00:00 Etc/GMT”; }; }; }

Just a filler, for now. As Zdziarski says:

“This suggests that the iPhone calls home once in a while to find out what applications it should turn off. At the moment, no apps have been blacklisted, but by all appearances, this has been added to disable applications that the user has already downloaded and paid for, if Apple so chooses to shut them down.

“I discovered this doing a forensic examination of an iPhone 3G. It appears to be tucked away in a configuration file deep inside CoreLocation.”

However, since the iPhone SDK requires that each app that is made available through the App Store be signed by a security certificate (issued by Apple and unique to each developer), Apple could also disable apps by revoking a developer’s security certificate.

This blacklisting URL does provide a more targeted approach, and also one that could be used extremely quickly. So far, no apps have been blacklisted via this URL, not even the sadly lost NetShare. Of course, there’s no evidence this is truly a blacklisting URL, but knowing how “closed” Apple wants the iPhone to be, it wouldn’t be surprising if it was.