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Xbox Live Dropping Xbox v1 Games April 15

Microsoft's Xbox Live will drop support for online components of Xbox v1 games on April 15...yes, that means no more online play for Halo 2.

Microsoft has announced it will be discontinuing Xbox Live support for online components of Xbox v1 games effective April 15. The company says it is working to continue the evolution of the Xbox Live service, and that finally means doing something that will make the service incompatible with original Xbox v1 games. For the fans of Master Chief and his arsenal of explosive devices, that means online game play forHalo 2 will be going away.

The service termination applies to both using the Xbox Live service on original Xbox consoles as well as playing Xbox v1 games on an Xbox 360.

As a consolation, Microsoft will be offeringHalo 2 fans a free three-month Xbox Live Gold memberships and 400 Microsoft Points to spend on Xbox Live;Halo 2 players will also be invited to theHalo Reach beta when it launches.

Halo 2 won�t be the only game with an online component to fall victim to the change: other well-known titles that will lose their online components will includeStar Wars: Battlefront andCounterstrike.

The change will not impact Xbox and Xbox 360 owners� ability to play Xbox v1 games offline.

Motorola Abandons Google for Bing on Android Phones

A new partnership with Microsoft will see Motorola's Android phones in China preloaded with Bing services, possibly in an attempt to gain distance from Google's heated censorship battles there.

Rumors of Apple running into Microsoft�s arms and adopting Bing on the iPhone have yet to come to fruition, but it appears that it wasn�t the only company mulling over the idea. On Thursday, Motorola announced that it would switch from Google to Bing as the default provider for search and maps on � perversely enough � Google-powered Android phones.

A partnership between Microsoft and Motorola will see the launch of Motorola phones with Bing already bookmarked in the Android browser, and add a preinstalled Bing widget. Initially, the deal will only apply to phones sold in China, where the company will roll out the changes immediately in new phones and retroactively through over-the-air updates in older models. Motorola hasn�t explicitly drawn out whether or not the alliance might eventually expand to other countries.

Intel Debuts Six-Core Core i7 Chip for Gamers

Intel has officially rolled out its Core i7-980X Extreme Edition, sporting 6 cores and the company's latest 32nm architecture.

At this week�s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Chipmaker Intel officially took the wraps off a new chip intentionally designed to make gamers drool. The Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition sports Intel�s latest 32nm manufacturing technology, 6 processing cores, and a full dozen computing threads. In theory, the new chip should offer up to 50 percent better performance than the Core i7 processors that preceded it�not if only software can catch up to leverage those capabilities.

As with existing Intel Core i-series processors, the Core i7-980X Extreme Edition features HyperThreading that can effectively double the number of threads a single processor core can handle, meaning the six-core system can handle up to 12 threads executing at once. The new chip also sports AES-NI for enhanced security and support for up to 12 MB of shared L3 processor cache. The 32nm technology also means the processor doesn�t consume mammoth amounts of power�in fact, in some instances it uses less power than the four-core Core i7-975 Extreme Edition that preceded it.

OpenGL 4 Looks to Take on DirectX 11

The Khronos Group has unveiled the OpenGL 4 spec, which takes on DirectX 11 with hardware-accelerated tessellation and improved performance.

High-end gaming has been fixated on DirectX 11 technology lately, but that doesn�t mean OpenGL is out of the picture: the Khronos Group has just announced the OpenGL 4.0 specification, the first major update to the open graphics standard since the launch of OpenCL in late 2008. OpenGL 4 builds on the work of OpenCL by enabling modern application to tap into the computing power of graphics processors, boosting performance and freeing up a computer�s main processor for other tasks. In addition, the OpenGL 4 standard includes support for hardware-accelerated geometry tessellation (essentially, simplifying shapes), can render content and apply shaders with 64-bit accuracy, and sports improved shaders for better rendering quality and antialiasing capability.

�The release of OpenGL 4.0 is a major step forward in bringing state-of-the-art functionality to cross-platform graphics acceleration, and strengthens OpenGL�s leadership position as the epicenter of 3D graphics on the web, on mobile devices as well as on the desktop,� said OpenGL ARB working group chair (and Nvidia�s Core openGL senior manager) Barthold Lichtenbelt, in a statement.

Not all existing hardware will be able to handle OpenGL 4 capabilities; in the meantime, Khronos has released an OpenGL 3.3 specification to bring as much OpenGL 4 functionality to existing GPU hardware as possible. Nvidia says its forthcoming Fermi-based graphics systems will fully support OpenGL 4.0.

iPhone OS 4.0 to Finally Bring Multitasking?

After years of intentional handicapping, Apple may finally be preparing to set the iPhone free and run multiple applications at once.

The thorn in the iPhone�s side that has quietly hobbled it since day one could soon be plucked from its silver shell. New rumors allege that multitasking � a simple feature offered on a variety of other mobile operating systems from Windows Mobile 6.5 to Google Android � will finally arrive with iPhone OS 4.0.

According to AppleInsider, �people with a proven track record in predicting Apple�s technological advances� have spilled the beans on multitasking in a coming update, which will allow third-party apps to run simultaneously in the background.

The new task manager will call upon technology used in Mac OS X, but specifics have been withheld. No firm timeline has come to light, but the same sources indicate the update is still in the works and has a �way to go.�

The iPhone OS already supports pre-emptive multitasking, but Apple has restricted its use to only its own services, like the phone, SMS and iPod. This explains how users are able to talk on the phone or listen to music while they surf in Safari, but can�t run a third-party app like Pandora to pull down tunes at the same time.

PlayStation Move and sub-controller revealed

Sony has finally revealed that its new motion controller for PS3 is to be called PlayStation Move, and that it will have an additional nunchuk style add-on, similar to Nintendo's Wii.

Sony's motion controlled wand-style controller finally got its official name at this week's GDC conference.
PlayStation Move is set to be made available in three different bundles: standalone for those who already have the PS Eye; with the camera and a PS3; or with the camera and a game � which will cost under $100.

Lag-free and wireless

Latency (or lag) for the Move is nearly non-existent at one frame, a similar response you get from the DualShock 3 controller.

Sony demoed a one-on-one battle game called Gladiator Duel, and a table tennis game.

The wireless nunchuk style add-on is to be called the 'Sub-controller', and was demoed with Sony's Socom 4.

The Sub-controller features an analogue stick, so gamers can play more complex games like first-person shooters with PlayStation Move.

12 things to expect from Virgin Media's next-gen box

When TiVo meets UK cable

Although Virgin Media are remaining coy on the details of its forthcoming next-generation TiVo-enabled boxes, there are plenty of assumptions that can be made.

With the partnership signed and sealed and development well underway on an interface that brings the Virgin Media hardware and the TiVo user experience together, what can you expect to find on the next-generation cable set-top boxes?

But how will TiVo recommendations work on boxes without a PVR? This is something that Virgin Media is working hard to solve � but the recommendations can apply equally to available Video on Demand (VOD) meaning that things like BBC iPlayer content, catch-up TV and, potentially, TV Choice on Demand will be graded and provided as TiVo recommendations.

2. 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon

Another useful addition to TiVo that is likely to appear in Virgin Media's user interface (UI) is functionality that allows you to see the cast of any given show and then what other shows and movies they appear in.

So, for instance, should you be watching Kiefer Sutherland in 24 and want to see if any of his extensive range of movies are being shown elsewhere in the listings (or available on VOD of course) then you can. You can also then surf onto his co-stars in those films and see what TV and film they are appearing in that's available and so on.

3. Context specific recommendations

Another offshoot of the recommendation engine is that when they are combined with some content hand-picked by an editorial team and the cast and crew information you can have a dynamic feed of relevant content that actually sits nicely with whatever it is you are looking at.

So, if you happen to be looking for a movie starring a particular actor, you could well get recommendations on the page that point to other work by some of the cast, other movies of the same type and movies that people who watched that film have also watched.

Plus, expect to see TiVo recommending shows you might like to watch on the linear channels, even if it cannot record them for you.

Microsoft loses appeal in $290 million patent case

Texan court rules on i4i Word patent case

Microsoft was asked to stop selling its popular word-processing software in the US last August by a Texan court, relating to a patent infringement case by Canadian company i4i.

i4i was claiming that the software giant was guilty of infringing patents - specifically that Microsoft "willingly violated" a 1998 patent regarding methods for reading XML.

Microsoft appealed against the Canadian company's claim, but that appeal has now been turned down by the court.

Corel unveils PaintShop Photo Pro X3 editing software

Corel Corporation has just announced a new edition to one of their software lines: PaintShop Photo Pro X3. The Pro X3 version will host a variety of new features and functions, plus high definition video capabilities for the first time.

The PaintShop Photo Pro X3 program is intended for digital photographers of all skill levels. The editing program includes a a revamped Organizer, designed to select and edit information (tagging, ratings, quick touch-ups) on multiple selected photos at once.

Some of the highlighted additions include:

* HD Video Editing: Users can design HD slideshows and movies, combining both photos and video clips within the same tool.
* Camera RAW Lab: Allows the user to adjust several settings (i.e. white balance, exposure, saturation, etc.) before processing, and then copied to other RAW images. Supports over 350 RAW formats.
* Multi‑photo Adjustments: Changes made to one image can be applied to multiple photos at once
* Smart Carver and Object Extractor: Removing objects and scales without distorting the image; masks image details that are difficult to preserve
* Project Creator: A one-stop shop for creating and sharing photo and video projects (i.e. publish photo books, cards, calendars, etc.) Also allows for direct uploading to YouTube, Facebook and Flickr.

PlayStation 3 'hacked' by iPhone cracker

A US hacker who gained notoriety for unlocking Apple's iPhone as a teenager has told BBC News that he has now hacked Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3).

George Hotz said the hack, which could allow people to run pirated games or homemade software, took him five weeks.

He said he was still refining the technique but intended to post full details online soon.

The PS3 is the only games console that has not been hacked, despite being on the market for three years.

"It's supposed to be unhackable - but nothing is unhackable," Mr Hotz told BBC News.

"I can now do whatever I want with the system. It's like I've got an awesome new power - I'm just not sure how to wield it."

Sony said it was "investigating the report" and would "clarify the situation" when it had more information.