To the Moon With Google

Google is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 in the most logical way possible: It’s added the moon to Google Earth in much the same way it took us to Mars a few months ago. You can now circle the moon and explore its geography and landmarks, take a couple of tours (including one narrated by Jack Schmitt, the last man to set foot on the moon), and view videos and high-resolution photos. As a technological feat, it’s not as amazing as getting to the moon with the help of computers as they existed in 1969, but it’s an impressive and fun addition to one of Google’s most impressive, fun products.

5Words Gets a Feed

This is way, way overdue: Technologizer’s 5Words now has an RSS feed. Subscribe to it, and you’ll get every installment in your reader. It joins our feed of all Technologizer stories. Both are full-text; neither has ads; both are good ways to have our content come right to you…

5Words for Monday, July 20th 2009

Console gaming without a console.

The world’s most elegant hotspot.

Why aren’t Japanese phones popular?

Mozilla patches a Firefox vulnerability.

Kingston’s pricey 256GB USB drive.

Kazaa wants to come back.

Will Apple kill this game?

Microsoft updates Office for Mac.

Toshiba to build Blu-Ray player.

Why does Verizon hate GPS?

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Twitter’s Security Problem is Our Security Problem

How did French data thief “Hacker Croll” break into accounts and swipe the 310 internal Twitter documents which he leaked to TechCrunch?  TechCrunch’s Nik Cubrilovic has a long post explaining what happened–or at least what “Croll” says happened–in surprising detail. Even if you have serious issues with TechCrunch’s ongoing use of stolen documents–as I do–this story is worth a read.

Basically, “Croll” didn’t do anything particularly brilliant–and there were no chinks in Twitter’s security armor that aren’t pretty much universal. Mostly, he took advantage of  (a) Twitter’s use of other Web-based services to run its business; (b) the fact that every organization has employees who use the same damn password for multiple accounts; and (c) password recovery systems that can make it absurdly easy to break into someone else’s account.

Companies aren’t going to stop using Web services, and if there’s a way to prevent employees from using the same password for disparate services from unrelated companies, I can’t think of it. The one aspect of security breaches such as the Twitter break-in that’s addressable is the lax state of password recovery. I’m worried it’ll stay lax, since the easier Web companies make it for users to get back lost passwords, the less costly it is from a customer service standpoint. But I dearly hope that Twitter’s embarrassment services as a wake-up call for the whole industry–one that’s about a decade overdue.

Forty Years of Lunar Lander

Lunar Lander games abound on every platform. Along with Tetris and Pac-Man, the game–in which your mission is to safely maneuver your lunar module onto the moon’s surface–is one of the most widely cloned computer games of all time. But did you know that game players began touching down on the moon in Lunar Lander just months after Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did so on July 20th, 1969?

Today’s versions of Lunar Lander are easily taken for granted; they’re generally regarded as dinky games you can get for free–”Who would pay for that?”

But the mother of all realistic space simulations wasn’t always perceived that way. In 1969, it was, in its own way, a sophisticated, ambitious piece of digital entertainment. And during the BASIC era of the 1970s and 80s, many programmers cut their teeth by attempting to program their own version of Lunar Lander. David Ahl, founder of Creative Computing magazine, called it “by far and away the single most popular computer game” in 1978 (and he was only talking about the text version!). Indeed, Lunar Lander was one of the early computer games that helped define computer games.

Continue reading this story…

Report: Microsoft Days Away from Yahoo Search Deal

A cadre of Microsoft executives is in Silicon Valley to iron a search and online advertising deal with Yahoo, All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher is reporting.

The executives include senior vice president of the company’s Online Audience Business Group Yusuf Mehdi, Online Services Group president Qi Lu, and Online Services senior vice president Satya Nadella, according the report. The terms of the deal allegedly involve Microsoft paying Yahoo billions of dollars upfront to run its search advertising business; Yahoo will receive certain guaranteed payments.

Some sticking points have involved who will have control over data, and traffic acquisition cost rates, the report says. However, I thinkthat Yahoo will take the deal: Despite its new technology initiatives, its market share is slowly decaying.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Bing search engine has been received favorably, and it has managed to steal some market share away from Google and Yahoo. It is still too soon to tell whether a trend if developing (it launched last month), but Microsoft’s $90 million advertising campaign won’t hurt its chances at popularity.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is like a pit bull–he never lets go after he sets his jaws around something. There has been a persistent campaign to strike a deal with Yahoo. All Things Digital says that it could happen as soon as next week. Now we wait.

5Words for Friday, July 17th 2009

Opera hates European Windows 7.

Wikipedia’s video player format complication.

Little carriers: Verizon phones sooner.

Google doesn’t like app stores.

Chrome 3′s XP netbook optimization.

iPod, Zune targeted by lawsuit.

Mozilla’s tabbed-browser design contest.

Windows Home Server gets update.

Palm Pre:  not for games.

TechCrunch/Twitter kerfuffle is lame.

Why Can’t All Software Installation Be Like This?

Microsoft is saying it’ll roll out an update to Internet Explorer 8 in August with a tweak to the setup routine which I just love. If you have another browser set as the default, you’ll see this dialog when you run IE for the first time:

Not only does it not set IE as the default browser without your permission, but it doesn’t even pre-select IE–an option which is always the one that Microsoft would prefer, but frequently not the one the user in question prefers. You’re forced to click your preferred option; there’s essentially no way to end up with IE as your default browser by accident, and nobody will feel that Microsoft is tugging at his or her sleeve or interfering with the system configuration.

[UPDATE: Clarification based on feedback in comments--what Microsoft is doing is showing you this dialog even if you chose Express Settings, which formerly set IE8 as the default browser.]

(Okay, it’s possible that some people will maintain that Microsoft shouldn’t even ask about default browser settings–but it seems like a reasonable matter to bring up during installation of a new browser.)

I’d like to see every software company with a product that involves operating system default settings take this approach; it should also be required behavior when it comes to depositing icons in the Start menu, the desktop, and the System Tray.

The world of software and the Web is rife with examples of companies erring on the side of serving their own interests rather than helping consumers get what they want. The next time I install IE 8 on a system and see this dialog, it’ll make me feel better about Microsoft’s role as a citizen of the dominion that is my PC. Isn’t it just possible that that’s worth more to the company than any number of PCs having their default browser switched to IE for reasons other than express desire of the computer’s owner?

Orwell on the Kindle: It’s Orwellian!

[IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Web is rife with examples of people assuming something unlikely-sounding is true because they read it somewhere. I usually go to pains to avoid doing so--which is why my posts tend to be rife with words like "reportedly" and "allegedly"-- but in this post I screwed up. As BetaNews reports--rightly taking me to task--everyone who ranted about this was missing one important detail: The Orwell books that Amazon yanked back were unauthorized copies of copyrighted works. You can argue whether it's OK to delete even pirated copies--Amazon appears to have done a poor job of communicating what it was doing, and now says it won't repeat its actions. But this wasn't about whims; it was about Amazon unwittingly serving as a channel for stolen goods. I now return you to my original post.]

This is hysterical and depressing, all at the same time: Everybody who’d bought George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm for their Amazon Kindle e-book readers have had their copies yanked back by Amazon and received a refund. The books’ publisher decided that it wasn’t so hot on the idea of electronic rights after all. Did you know that Amazon reserved the right to take back books after you’d paid for them? Me neither.

Judging from the chatter in Amazon’s Kindle forum, it didn’t even explain what it was doing: It simply removed books and returned money.

Amazon’s site is full of references to the notion of Kindle owners “buying” books, and if there’s any mention of the purchase actually involving a revokable license, it’s in very fine print indeed.

All this is just the latest proof that when copy protection is involved, there’s no such think as actually buying anything–what you’re really doing is renting for a fix fee. Most other examples of this fact have involved companies giving up on services and shutting down DRM servers. This is the first one I know of that appears to be based on whim rather than economic factors.

Amazon may be a middleman here rather than the capricious copyright owner, but it could be a force for good if it simply required publishers who sell books to Kindle owners to sell them, period. Absent that, how about allowing Kindle owners to return e-books or the e-reader itself for a full refund at any time–no excuse required?

I don’t have 1984 or Animal Farm on my Kindles–but I do own them in good old-fashioned paper form. And nobody short of Big Brother himself can barge into my library and take ‘em away…

The Ongoing Unfulfilled Promise of Gears

I persist in believing that we don’t know enough about Google’s Chrome OS to either love the idea or hate it. But this I know: If Chrome OS netbooks only work when they’ve got an active Internet connection, they’ll make no sense at all. The day may come when Internet access is available everywhere and everywhere. But for now, computers need to provide some level of functionality even when they’re cut off from the Net.

I’m assuming that Google wouldn’t dispute that and is building a Chrome OS that will work offline in one fashion or another. Which got me thinking about a Google project that’s both one of my favorites and a major disappointment: Gears.

When Google announced in 2007 that it was developing a framework to help Web services run even when the Web wasn’t available, my PC World pals and I got so excited that we named Gears as the year’s most innovative product. Then another few months passed, and I got worried that the Web wasn’t jumping on the Gears bandwagon as quickly as I’d hoped it would.

Gears is now more than two years old, and the list of services that support it remains remarkably short. Actually, I’m not sure if there is an official list of Gears-friendly services: Google’s Gears site refers to a “select group” of services, but doesn’t mention them. In this case, “select” is presumably a synonym for “short.”  The Wikipedia page for Gears mentions fifteen Gears-enabled services, six of which are from Google itself. For the most part, they don’t replicate all their Web functionality within an offline browser–even Gmail, which may have the neatest Gears implementation to date, offers a reduced set of features.

Making Web services work sans Web is, clearly, really hard. Even for a company with as many smart people and resources as Google (and Gears is an open-source project, so it’s not even limited by the amount of attention Google is able to devote to it). I’m still a Gears fan, and I’m still hopeful that Gears will turn out to be a late bloomer rather than a cool idea that never caught on. For now, though, it’s proof that Web technologies still benefit mightily from having access to the Web.

As far as I know, Google hasn’t said what role Gears plays in Chrome OS. It’s a safe bet that it’s part of the OS, and that Gears-enabled services will work on Chrome OS netbooks. But does it provide Chrome OS with its only offline features? We just don’t know. Chrome OS is based on a Linux kernel, so it’s also entirely possible that it’ll have some level of support for Linux apps. Any guesses?

Sorry, Consumers, You Still Mistakenly Like Netbooks

Erica Ogg of CNET has a good story up on upcoming notebooks based on ultra low-voltage chips. They’re thin and light, with good battery life, and will run between $600 and $1000. Sounds pretty appealing–I could see myself going for one as my next notebook. I remain amused, however, by the degree to which the industry keeps saying that the netbooks it’s selling by the million are lousy machines that it needs to rescue consumers from.

From another Cnet story:

“Now, if you want a thin and light notebook, you don’t have to just pick a Netbook. You can pick an affordable notebook that has more functionality,” [Intel CEO Paul] Otellini said.

[snip]

“When we first released our ultraportable (ultra-thin) a lot of people looked at it and said, ‘oh it’s Netbook,’” said Kelt Reeves, president of enthusiast PC maker Falcon Northwest. “No, it’s close to a Netbook in size but it’s much, much more capable,” Reeves said, addressing user misconceptions.

Windows 7 may not go very far in correcting all the confusion. “Windows 7 runs well even on a $199 Netbook,” said Ashok Kumar, an analyst at investment bank Collins Stewart. Kumar said Intel may continue to have trouble managing consumer perceptions of Netbooks and ultra-thins.

Again and again, we’re told that consumers are buying netbooks because they’re confused, not because they make sense for some folks. And the fact that Windows 7 runs well on netbooks is apparently…a problem. Bad Microsoft. Bad, bad Microsoft.

The notebooks the PC industry wants to replace netbooks cost more and have higher profit margins. Coincidence?

Would You Pay For Firefox Extensions?

Firefox is the happy result of untold hours of unpaid effort by the Mozilla community. But Mozilla is announcing a pilot program called Firefox Add-On Contributions, with the aim of helping Firefox extension developers make a buck from their hard work. It’s a platform for requesting and receiving payments for extensions, with PayPal handling the exchange of money. It is, of course, optional.

I kind of like the idea–I try to pay for the shareware I use, and the iPhone App Store has shown the power of selling a lot of copies of something small and useful for just a little money. (I’m assuming that the contribution price for a typical Firefox add-on isn’t going to be more than a few dollars.)

So if you’re asked to chip in for extensions you use and like…will you?

Games Industry Suffers From Recession, Finally

After a few months of lagging sales, market researcher NPD Group is finally saying the recession caught up with the video games industry. All it took was for gaming to suffer its biggest year-over-year sales drop in 9 years.

Total industry sales in North America were down 31 percent in June, compared to the same month in 2008.  Hardware took the biggest hit, with a 38 percent drop in sales, and software fell 29 percent. Accessories fared the best, but still saw a 22 percent decline, according to GameDaily.

June is not the first recent month that the industry was in decline. Video game sales have fallen year-over-year for the last three months in a row. Still, NPD avoided chalking this up to the recession. After all, last year was particularly strong, with the fast-selling Wii Fit and blockbuster games such as Mario Kart Wii and Grand Theft Auto IV doing well in the spring. Plus, the three current generation consoles were fresher a year ago, and no company has cut prices since then.

But now, NPD analyst Anita Frazier is finally blaming the economy. “This is one of the first months where I think the impact of the economy is clearly reflected in the sales numbers,” she told GameDaily. Sales haven’t plummeted this drastically since September 2000, when there was a 41 percent industry decline.

Why pull the recession card now? To paraphrase Frazier, it’s a combination of weak line-ups, stagnant console price points and a lack of must-have games, combined with consumers’ unwillingness to spend more until things change. In other words, you can’t expect people to pay the same money for lacklustre products just because they’re video games. To put it one more way, the video game industry is not recession proof; it was just piggybacking on the strength of the Wii and a few blockbusters, so let’s please let that label die once and for all.

Frazier isn’t throwing all her optimism out the window. There’s a chance, she said, that a strong second-half could bring total 2009 game sales on par or slightly above last year’s numbers. Game makers aren’t fully cooperating, though, as Take-Two delayed the much-anticipated Bioshock 2 in hopes of reaping better sales during FY2010. Heavy Rain, a Playstation 3 exclusive that’s getting some attention, was also put off until next year.

To save 2009, the games industry needs Wii Fit Plus to spur more sales of the Wii Balance Board, it needs Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3: ODST to sell like true holiday blockbusters, and it needs people to splurge on high-cost peripherals such as the band kit for The Beatles: Rock Band.

Holiday price cuts for the three major consoles couldn’t hurt, either.

Comcast’s iPhone App Somewhat Comcastic

Cable provider Comcast has joined the legions of service providers and companies creating their own iPhone apps to interface with their services and offerings. It would be most useful to those with the so called “triple play” package: cable, Internet, and phone service.

The main functionality of this application splits into three parts. The first is an email application that will allow the user to check his or her email. But it functions more than just an email inbox. The users phone voicemail also uses this setup, although you can either select to view those in a different tab or mixed in with your regular mail.

I’m sure most of us will opt for the separate tab: with the amount of junk mail these days, your voicemails will likely just get lost in the mix. Nice feature here is Comcast’s use of iPhone 3.0 functionality — meaning you’ll be able to type in landscape mode just like you could do in the standard Mail app.

More than just voicemail — users will be able to view their received/missed calls from the application. If you so choose, you may click on the number to call or text the caller back from the iPhone.

If you have a Comcast Address Book, you will be able to sync the data there with the standard iPhone Address Book. This is a nice feature — and could be useful to those who may not have MobileMe but would still like that syncing functionality nevertheless.

Other functions include a Guide app, which will tell you what’s on television right now, and an “On Demand” feature which allows you to watch movie trailers of upcoming programming on the service.

However, what’s missing here, and what makes the app less than fantastic — err, Comcastic rather — is the lack of DVR control. PC Magazine’s Sean Ludwig points this out and i tend to agree. If it had this, I’d consider it one of the iPhone’s killer apps.

Alas, there may be some kind of technical hurdles to getting this done, but I think it definitely should be a priority in a future release.

Chrome for OS X, Where Are You?

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler has a good post up about the latest OS X builds of Chromium, the open-source browser that will become Chrome for the Mac. He’s right that it’s feeling like it might not be too far from being ready for prime time. (I’ll be disappointed if the final version has the nine menus sported by the current build, though–Chrome for Windows has an amazingly minimalist two menus, and that’s one of the things I like most about it.)

I’m in favor of software developers releasing apps when they’re ready, not in a rush, so I’m willing to wait for Chrome for OS X. But with the first anniversary of Chrome for Windows a mere six weeks away, I’m hoping Google might give Mac users a reason to celebrate, too.

About Those Totally Unscripted Microsoft Commercials…

As Ars Technica is reporting, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner is saying that that Apple has asked Microsoft to pull its Laptop Hunters ads that show consumers turning up their noses at Macs as being overpriced and underequipped:

And so we’ve been running these PC value ads. Just giving people saying, hey, what are you looking to spend? “Oh, I’m looking to spend less than $1,000.” Well we’ll give you $1,000. Go in and look and see what you can buy. And they come out and they just show them. Those are completely unscripted commercials.

And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, “Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.” They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business. (Applause.)

I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, “Is this a joke? Who are you?” Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them.

Two thoughts:

1) If Apple’s complaint was that some of the specific pricing facts quoted in the commercial are no longer correct–like the statement in this one that the best Mac laptop under $2000 has 2GB of RAM–what exactly is that reason for cartwheels? Seems like a reasonable point to me. Seems like something Microsoft might do in a similar situation. Like if Mozilla ran ads saying that Internet Explorer didn’t have tabs, for instance.

2) Microsoft keeps saying that the ads are unscripted. I believe it. But they weren’t unedited, of course. And it’s worth noting that when folks noticed that Lauren, the first Laptop Hunter, mistakenly called the Apple Store “the Mac Store,” the company’s re-edited, 30-second version of what was originally a 60-second ad changed her “unscripted” comments to have her calling it the Apple Store. Here are the original ad and the fixed version:

I’m not sure whether the correction to Lauren’s “Mac Store” reference was made in the interest of accuracy…or whether it was because some people thought it made her look like a ditz. Maybe it was a little bit of both.

Microsoft also tinkered slightly with Lauren’s comments about Macs later in the ad, apparently to compress them for the shorter ad. I’m assuming that the rewording was accomplished through piecing together of existing audio rather than by having her record new material. ‘But I do sort of wonder if they finessed anything else in the ads to serve their purposes.

The folks in the ads may be real, but cinema vérité these commercials aren’t….