July 27th, 2007
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Yep, World of Warcraft (WoW) has surpassed New York City in terms of population. It’s reached a subscriber base of 9 million.
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has reached a new milestone, with a player base now totaling more than 9 million subscribers worldwide. The company is currently working with its partner for World of Warcraft in China, The9, to prepare the game’s first expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade™, for launch in mainland China and anticipates an influx of new and returning subscribers in conjunction with that event. Source: Blizzard Press Release
We Say: And yes, one of my friends sent me a 10-day free trial key … so it looks like I might be getting sucked into the abyss of WoW as well … interestingly, if you go to the U.S. Census Bureau webpage that estimates world population and type in 2007, you will see that 9 million will place WoW as a country (really, though, it’s a world, right?) at 89, just behind Sweden and above Haiti. 
July 26th, 2007
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
As I reported just yesterday, Toyota is starting road tests of it’s plug-in hybrid prototypes. What I didn’t know then, and know now, is that two UC California campuses will get to test them as well.
Toyota announced yesterday that it has developed a plug-in hybrid vehicle and become the first manufacturer to have such a vehicle certified for use on public roads in Japan. Toyota will also provide plug-in (PHEV) hybrid prototypes to the Advanced Power and Energy Program at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Source: Auto Industry
We Say: Each campus will only get one … and they’ll look like standard Priuses. Still, maybe I’ll get lucky and see one tooling around SF Bay Area freeways, since I live in the Bay Area.
July 26th, 2007
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
This falls into the “Give me a break” category … not the lawsuit, but what brought on the lawsuit. While most people are against piracy, most are also pro-“fair use”. Many have also viewed the RIAA’s enforcement of what it feels is perceived copyright infringement to be heavy-handed, to say the least. In this case the RIAA (or rather, RIAA member Universal Music Publishing Group) forced a YouTube video to be taken down, because it contained 18-month-old Holden Lenz dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Get Crazy” for a whole 29 seconds.
The video features 18-month-old Holden Lenz dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Get Crazy” and runs for a total of 29 seconds. Following Universal’s complaint, the video was removed by YouTube and remained offline until recently.
The EFF points out that, “Under federal copyright law, a mere allegation of copyright infringement can result in the removal of content from the Internet.” This legal framework mandates that services take down material that may actually be completely lawful or protected under fair use, and this situation is the impetus for the suit. Source: News.com
We Say: Anyone got any videos of their wedding on Youtube? Better take ‘em down, because if there is any music being played by the DJ … well, you get my drift. Pulling down a baby dancing … or even wedding video or other such footage … is definitely overkill, and that’s an understatement.
July 25th, 2007
By Chief Gadgeteer, Gizmos for Geeks
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews.
Just a quick blurb. MvixUSA is trying to attract some new customers, so they’re holding this little giveaway until Aug 15 - the 1st 500 respondents get a free digital audio optical cable. In case you’re not familiar, MvixUSA distributes Mvix products like the MX-760HD. Alice featured it in her famous segment on CNBC back in Decemmber!
PS> Here is a review of the MX-760HD that we did, and there are quite a few more on the Web as well.
July 25th, 2007
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Well, here are the numbers we were waiting for … although AT&T said they had 146,000 iPhone activations the two days, Apple today reported sales of 270,000 iPhones the first two days.
Apple Inc.’s fiscal third-quarter profit soared more than 73 percent, fueled by demand for its Macintosh computers, the strength of its iPod media players and the sales of 270,000 iPhones in the first two days on the market.
Apple shares jumped more than 6 percent in extended-session trading Wednesday even as the company issued a conservative outlook that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. Source: Telegram.com
We Say: Still far short of the 500,000 analysts had forecast, but almost double the number AT&T indicated had activated … I guess those were some severe activation problems that first weekend …
July 25th, 2007
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
My first thought was … whaa? My second was whaa?
Politicians charged on Tuesday that peer-to-peer networks can pose a “national security threat” because they enable federal employees to share sensitive or classified documents accidentally from their computers. Source: News.com
We Say: So yeah, you can see how it could happen. Someone installs a P2P file-sharing program on their computer, and shares directories that have sensitive information on it. Sure, I can see it … if they are ridiculously stupid users … or if your IT department is too lame to block the traffic.
Shades of the “tubes” debacle.
July 25th, 2007
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
General Motors has been touting its Chevrolet Volt, pictured above, for some time … they hope to get it on the market by 2010, despite the fact that the battery technology GM intends to use still hasn’t been developed. Meanwhile, you can buy a plug-in Prius (if you get a regular Prius and upgrade it for $24,000!) … or you can look to Toyota itself, which has become the first manufacturer to receive government approval to conduct tests for a plug-in hybrid on Japanese public roads.
Takimoto declined to say when Toyota will bring a plug-in hybrid to market. Innovation in battery technology is needed, he said. “We still need some time,” he said.
The vehicle displayed Wednesday, called Toyota Plug-in HV, runs on the same nickel metal hydride battery as the Prius and has a cruising range of 8 miles on electricity. Takimoto said tests will help in deciding the range consumers want. Source: SFGate
We Say: While the Plug-in HV only has a range on electricity of 8 miles, that’s just a starter figure (I realize that GM is shooting for 40 miles). Still, I’d put my money on Toyota, if a bet were involved. They are so far ahead of U.S. manufacturers that without a major stumble, I can’t see GM, Ford, or Chrysler beating them with any sort of hybrid technology.
July 25th, 2007
By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Another day, another GPS receiver manufacturer, rebrander, it seems.
Ever heard of the name Gosget? Me neither.
There is no excuse for ignorance so we looked up some details for you.
The brand is being launched by SeeYou.com in Taiwan but their website doesn’t seem to be operational yet.
They are launching three Bluetooth GPS receivers:
- Gosget MB-588 Bluetooth GPS receiver
- Gosget MB-688L Bluetooth GPS receiver + Data Logger
- Gosget MB-988SL Solar Bluetooth GPS receiver + Data Logger
A couple of the units look very much like some of the Qstarz receivers that we recently reviewed (Travel Recorder) and it also seems another reincarnation of the i-Blue range, like the 737 and 747.
You can find the details of the solar unit on DigitalReviews.net .
