Sony Promises Restoration The PlayStation Network and Qriocity Services Starting This Week

Posted by Danial Arshad Khan on May 1, 2011 in Press Release, PS3, Slider, Sony | View Comments

This has truly been a bad month for Sony, with the PSN getting hacked and Sony Pioneer Norio Ohga dying. Sony is trying it’s best to make up for their shortcoming, they announced at their press conference today. Representative Corporate Executive Officer and Executive Deputy President Kaz Hirai told the reporters that the services will go through ‘phased restoration’ and be back very soon by this week. Sony also promised existing users 30 day free PSN and Qriocity subscriptions which is sure to calm down the crowd. Check out the whole press release after the break.

SOME PLAYSTATION®NETWORK AND QRIOCITY™ SERVICES TO BE AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Phased Global Rollout of Services to Begin Regionally; System Security Enhanced to Provide Greater Protection of Personal Information

Tokyo, May 1, 2011 – Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) announced they will shortly begin a phased restoration by region of PlayStation®Network and Qriocity™ services, beginning with gaming, music and video services to be turned on. The company also announced both a series of immediate steps to enhance security across the network and a new customer appreciation program to thank its customers for their patience and loyalty.

Following a criminal cyber-attack on the company’s data-center located in San Diego, California, U.S.A., SNEI quickly turned off the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, engaged multiple expert information security firms over the course of several days and conducted an extensive audit of the system. Since then, the company has implemented a variety of new security measures to provide greater protection of personal information. SNEI and its third-party experts have conducted extensive tests to verify the security strength of the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. With these measures in place, SCE and SNEI plan to start a phased rollout by region of the services shortly. The initial phase of the rollout will include, but is not limited to, the following:

Restoration of Online game-play across the PlayStation®3 (PS3) and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) systems
-This includes titles requiring online verification and downloaded games
Access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3/PSP for existing subscribers
Access to account management and password reset
Access to download un-expired Movie Rentals on PS3, PSP and MediaGo
PlayStation®Home
Friends List
Chat Functionality

Working closely with several outside security firms, the company has implemented significant security measures to further detect unauthorized activity and provide consumers with greater protection of their personal information. The company is also creating the position of Chief Information Security Officer, directly reporting to Shinji Hasejima, Chief Information Officer of Sony Corporation, to add a new position of expertise in and accountability for customer data protection and supplement existing information security personnel. The new security measures implemented include, but are not limited to, the following:
Added automated software monitoring and configuration management to help defend against new attacks
Enhanced levels of data protection and encryption
Enhanced ability to detect software intrusions within the network, unauthorized access and unusual activity patterns
Implementation of additional firewalls
The company also expedited an already planned move of the system to a new data center in a different location that has been under construction and development for several months. In addition, PS3 will have a forced system software update that will require all registered PlayStation Network users to change their account passwords before being able to sign into the service. As an added layer of security, that password can only be changed on the same PS3 in which that account was activated, or through validated email confirmation, a critical step to help further protect customer data.

The company is conducting a thorough and on-going investigation and working with law enforcement to track down and prosecute those responsible for the illegal intrusion.

“This criminal act against our network had a significant impact not only on our consumers, but our entire industry. These illegal attacks obviously highlight the widespread problem with cyber-security. We take the security of our consumers’ information very seriously and are committed to helping our consumers protect their personal data. In addition, the organization has worked around the clock to bring these services back online, and are doing so only after we had verified increased levels of security across our networks,” said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. “Our global audience of PlayStation Network and Qriocity consumers was disrupted. We have learned lessons along the way about the valued relationship with our consumers, and to that end, we will be launching a customer appreciation program for registered consumers as a way of expressing our gratitude for their loyalty during this network downtime, as we work even harder to restore and regain their trust in us and our services.”

Complimentary Offering and “Welcome Back” Appreciation Program

While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, the company is committed to helping its customers protect their personal data and will provide a complimentary offering to assist users in enrolling in identity theft protection services and/or similar programs. The implementation will be at a local level and further details will be made available shortly in each region.

The company will also rollout the PlayStation Network and Qriocity “Welcome Back” program, to be offered worldwide, which will be tailored to specific markets to provide our consumers with a selection of service options and premium content as an expression of the company’s appreciation for their patience, support and continued loyalty.

Central components of the “Welcome Back” program will include:

Each territory will be offering selected PlayStation entertainment content for free download.Specific details of this content will be announced in each region soon.

All existing PlayStation Network customers will be provided with 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service. Current members of PlayStation Plus will receive 30 days free service.

Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity subscribers (in countries where the service is available) will receive 30 days free service.

Additional “Welcome Back” entertainment and service offerings will be rolled out over the coming weeks as the company returns the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services to the quality standard users have grown to enjoy and strive to exceed those exceptions.

SNEI will continue to reinforce and verify security for transactions before resuming the PlayStation®Store and other Qriocity operations, scheduled for this month.

For more information about the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services intrusion and restoration, please visit http://blog.us.playstation.com. or http://blog.eu.playstation.com/

Source: PlayStation.Blog

Sony Promises Restoration The PlayStation Network and Qriocity Services Starting This Week, 9.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

RIM Finally Makes The BlackBerry Bold 9900 And 9930 (Bold Touch) Official

Posted by Danial Arshad Khan on May 2, 2011 in BlackBerry, Press Release | View Comments

RIM just announced the two handsets at their BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, Florida. The only difference between the two models is that the 9900 used HSPA+ for 4G while the 9930 (Bold Touch) is a dual band world phone.

The phones come just as rumored with a 1.2 GHz Snapdragon processor, 768MB of RAM, 2.8-inch screen with a massive pixel density of 287dpi, 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of internal memory with MicroSD card support. Wireless connectivity options available are 802.11a/b/g/n along with Bluetooth 2.1. The phone runs on the new BlackBerry 7 OS which features an improved browser and voice activated search. Check out the whole press release after the break.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RIM Introduces New BlackBerry Bold Smartphones

New BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 Smartphones are the Thinnest and Most Powerful BlackBerry Smartphones yet, Featuring the Renowned BlackBerry Keyboard Together with a Brilliant Touch Screen and the New BlackBerry 7 OS

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today unveiled two new BlackBerry® Bold™ smartphones. The high-performance BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones feature a stunning and iconic design that integrates an incredibly easy-to-use BlackBerry keyboard with a brilliant, high resolution, capacitive touch screen. These exceptional smartphones are built on a new, performance-driven platform powered by the BlackBerry® 7 operating system and designed to deliver the ultimate in communications, multimedia and productivity for users around the world.

“The new BlackBerry Bold smartphones and BlackBerry 7 OS are inspired by millions of customers around the world who want the ultimate combination of performance, functionality and style,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO, Research In Motion. “These fully-loaded and beautifully crafted smartphones offer a highly refined user experience with blazingly fast performance, a brilliant touch screen and an outstanding typing experience.”

Thin, Sleek, Iconic Design Distinguished by an iconic design and the industry’s best keyboard, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones feature the premium materials and finishes that characterize the BlackBerry Bold line. Both models have a lustrous exterior with a brushed stainless steel frame and a high-gloss glass-weave backplate. They are also the thinnest BlackBerry smartphones yet, at only 10.5mm. The quality materials and optimized design of the new BlackBerry Bold smartphones are instantly evident when held in the hand.

Performance-Driven These BlackBerry Bold smartphones are built on a new performance-driven platform featuring a 1.2 GHz processor, Liquid Graphics™ touch screen, and support for high speed 4G/HSPA+ wide area wireless networks.

The Liquid Graphics touch screen, a key new feature powered by BlackBerry 7, delivers fast, smooth performance for highly responsive touch-based navigation, web browsing, pictures, video and graphics intensive games*. Offering up to 60 frames-per-second performance with instant UI action/response, Liquid Graphics gives customers a visually rich and immersive experience that’s responsive to the touch. In addition, the smartphones feature brilliant displays with an eye-popping 287 dpi to deliver crisp, stunning visuals.

The new platform also provides support for 4G networks; the 9900 supports HSPA+ connectivity, and the 9930 supports CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and HSPA+ global roaming on GSM/UMTS networks.

NFC The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones include built-in support for NFC (Near Field Communications), a new technology that will enable many rich and exciting experiences. Through NFC, users will be able to, for example, pair the BlackBerry Bold to an accessory or read information such as a web link from smart tags by simply tapping their BlackBerry Bold to an NFC tag (eg. Smart Poster).

Augmented Reality The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones feature a built-in compass (magnetometer) to support location-based services and augmented reality. APIs will allow third party developers to take advantage of the new functionality within their applications. The new smartphones will also include Wikitude, the leader in mobile augmented reality, which overlays contextual information on what the user sees through the smartphone’s camera viewfinder.

HD Video The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones support up to 720p HD video recording and playback. Users can easily share their videos directly from the smartphone or sync videos, as well as music and photos, to their computer using Media Sync in the BlackBerry® Desktop Software.

BlackBerry 7 The BlackBerry 7 OS is designed to power the new performance-driven BlackBerry Bold platform. It provides an easier and faster user experience with improved browsing, voice-activated searches, the ability to manage personal content separately from corporate content, as well as additional personal and productivity apps out of the box.

The BlackBerry Browser has been significantly enhanced in BlackBerry 7. In addition to the general performance gains of Liquid Graphics, which helps deliver faster rendering and seamless panning and zooming, the BlackBerry 7 browser includes a new JIT (just in time) JavaScript compiler to improve the load time speed of web pages. The new browser also includes support for additional HTML5 elements, such as HTML5 Video.

Building upon the Universal Search feature introduced in BlackBerry 6, BlackBerry 7 expands the capability to include voice-activated search. This new capability makes it even easier and more convenient to search for content on the smartphone or web.

BlackBerry 7 also integrates BlackBerry® Balance™, which separates personal content from corporate content on the smartphone, giving users the freedom and flexibility to use the handset for personal email, Facebook®, Twitter®, multimedia, games and other apps while satisfying the very real need for corporate data to be highly secure and manageable. BlackBerry Balance works in conjunction with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5.0.3, which provides a number of unique IT policy controls such as wiping only corporate data from the handset or blocking work related content and apps from being copied or forwarded to personal contacts.

With BlackBerry 7 on the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones, users will also get the full version of Docs To Go® with all “premium” features enabled out-of-the-box so that users can easily work with Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the smartphone. Docs To Go also includes a native PDF viewer.

Availability The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones are expected to be available from carriers around the world beginning this summer.

For additional information please visit www.blackberry.com/touchbold

APPENDIX

BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 Specifications

• 115 x 66 x 10.5 mm, approximately 130 g • 2.8″ capacitive touch screen display – VGA (640×480), 287 dpi resolution • Ultra-easy QWERTY keyboard, optical trackpad • 1.2 GHz Processor, 768 MB RAM • 8 GB on-board memory, plus microSD slot supporting up to 32 GB cards • NFC technology • 5.0 MP camera, supports 720p HD video recording • Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), Digital Compass (Magnetometer), Proximity Sensor • Built-in GPS / aGPS • Dual-Band Wi-Fi® – 802.11 b/g/n at 2.4 GHz and 802.11 a/n at 5 GHz • Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR support • Wireless Network support: o 9900: Tri-Band HSPA+, Quad-Band GSM/EDGE o 9930: Dual-Band CDMA/EV-DO Rev. A, Dual-Band HSPA+, Quad-Band GSM/EDGE • 1230 mAh removable, rechargeable battery • BlackBerry 7 OS

###

* Features OpenGL 2.0 support for developers.

Windows 8 x64 (64-bit Server Enterprise) Build 7959 M3 Leaked

Posted by Waqar Gulzar on May 2, 2011 in Computers, Microsoft, Windows PC | View Comments

Yet another build of Windows 8 has been leaked which is Windows 8 Enterprise of Milestone 3, 64-bit server version which has the build number of 6.2.7959.0, with full build string as 6.2.7959.0.fbl_srv_wdacxml.110307-1930 and was compiled on March 7, 2011. It’s one of the early build of M3. Here are additional details

File name: 6.2.7959.0.fbl_srv_wdacxml.110307-1930_amd64fre_server-enterprise_en-us.iso
Size: 3GB (3,229,550,592 bytes)
MD5: 99375D7782027CBF2E70F5D0F8648406

Windows 8 x64 (64-bit Server Enterprise) Build 7959 M3 Leaked, 10.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

X-Men First Class New Trailer

Posted by Danial Arshad Khan on May 2, 2011 in Movies, Slider, Trailers | View Comments

A new trailer for the highly awaited X-Men reboot has just been released by MARVEL on their official Youtube channel. The movie tells us the tale of the very first X-Men squad when Professor Xavier and Erik Lensherr (Magneto) were young and they traveled across the country looking for other mutants to their cause. Check out the trailer after the break.

Movie storyline as according to IMDB:

Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-MEN.

Assassin’s Creed Revelations second Teaser Revealed

Posted by Khawaja Talha on May 3, 2011 in Featured, Slider, Trailers, Video Games | View Comments

Ever since the Assassin’s Creed Revelations leak on Facebook fans have been longing to find more about it. There has been no confirmation of the platform or release date. Just now Ubisoft released another teaser trailer to make fans anticipate the game even more. The 11 second teaser shows a hand of someone, probably Altair and a Greek artifact hinting towards a setting in Ancient Greece.

Just like the previous trailer the Arabic words are seen revolving which some say mention the name of Altair. The background in the trailer has some kind of castle or ruin. The disk which is shown in the teaser is believed to be the famous Cretan Phaistos Disk. The trailer leaves us in a confused state as the castle hints towards the original setting of the first game in the series the Crusade Wars in Middle East but the Greek artifact hints towards the Greece. Who knows we might get to assassinate Greek Gods or Kratos in this game! Stay tuned as we bring you more as soon as we receive more information on this game. Check the teaser trailer after the jump.

Source: VG247

HTC Senstation Now Up For Pre-Order At Vodafone, Delivery Promised By 19th May

Posted by Danial Arshad Khan on May 4, 2011 in Android, HTC | View Comments

Now after Samsung and Motorola have released their beasts in the UK it’s time to HTC to release it’s first dual core phone in the market. You can now pre-order the HTC Sensation on Vodafone’s website where they promise delivery by 19th May.

The phone comes packed with a 4.3-inch qHD display, dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, 8-megapixel camera with HD video recording and runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense UI 3.0 which means on release it will most probably the only phone that could compete with the monster known as the Samsung Galaxy S II.

No news on a US release for this phone yet but if you’re in the UK and interested in the phone you can pre-order it at the source link below.

Source: Vodafone

Motorola Artix 4G’s 4.1.57 Update Now Available, Disables Root

Posted by Danial Arshad Khan on Mar 28, 2011 in Android, Motorola | View Comments

Motorola just released an over the air update for the dual core beast also known as the Artix 4G which updates it to 4.1.57 that improves and enables the features mentioned as follows:

• Fingerprint reader – Improved fingerprint reader performance
• Battery– Improved battery performance for longer battery life
• Screen – Display will turn off automatically now while charging directly on wall charger
• Phone stability – Improved stability resulting in fewer occurrences of touch unresponsiveness and/or programs quitting unexpectedly.
• Car dock – Improved performance of car dock and 3.5mm jack

The only downside to the update is that members over at XDA Developers have reported that it disables their superuser permissions and people have been unable to root their devices with the update.

Source: Motorola

DirectX 11 Patch for Crysis 2 Officially Confirmed.

Posted by Hassan on Apr 9, 2011 in PC Gaming, Video Games | View Comments

Crytek has officially confirmed an upcoming DirectX 11 Patch for their First Person Shooter “Crysis 2″. Most of the PC gamers were left angered when news popped up that the PC version would only use DirectX 9 visuals at default and a DirectX 11 Patch would be released later on, However the patch got delayed and there were no official reports other than rumors on whether or not there would be a new patch for the game.

A Crytek Developer confirmed on Mycrysis.com that a patch is underway. Here’s the official message:

We would like to announce that there will be a DX11 patch released for Crysis 2. We are working to get the best out of DX11, so we’ll wait to announce the features until a little closer to release.

So the patch is finally coming, Although no release date has been announced but they did mention that they are still optimizing the DirectX 11 engine of the game and as soon as its done they’ll inform the community. Let’s just hope they make good use of this time to optimize the DirectX 11 engine otherwise an Un-Optimized DirectX 11 can put some serious load on even the fastest PCs of this gen.

Source

Acer Iconia Tab Coming to Target May 15?

Posted by Khawaja Talha on May 1, 2011 in Android, Tablets, Technology | View Comments

Our friends at Androidcentral just got word from a tipster at Target that Target shall be getting Acer Iconia Tab on May 15. We can get it at Bestbuy but we all know that sometimes we get it cheaper at Target. There’s been no official word on the topic or the pricing.

Acer Iconia Tab is a 10.1 ” Tablet with a resolution of 1280 x 800 and is packed with a 1 Ghz Tegra processor. It also has a 5 megapixel back camera and a 2 megapixel front camera for video calling.  Pictures of front and back have been attached. Stay tuned as we bring you more on the topic.

Source: Androidcentral

Targa – The New And Improved Droid Bionic Coming This Summer

Posted by Danial Arshad Khan on May 1, 2011 in Android, Motorola | View Comments

Well you must remember the Verizon Motorola Droid Bionic, it got delayed till summer because of a few glitches with it’s processor but a new page has been posted on Motorola’s website regarding the phone’s CES reveal date and reason for it’s delay.

Based on compelling feedback since the show, we are incorporating several enhancements to make this an even better consumer experience. This includes expanded features, functionality and an improved form factor. Motorola Mobility and Verizon Wireless are very excited about bringing the ‘new’ DROID BIONIC to market.

So it seems the phone will be getting an “improved from factor” which lead us to believe that it’s going to be replaced by the Motorola Targa pictured above which is rumored to have to following specs:

• NVIDIA’s Quad Core Processor
• Display: 4.3-inch touch screen display (540 x 960 pixels.)
• Android OS (Most probably Android 2.3)
• Verizon 4G LTE enabled
• Music & video player with multi format codec support
• FM Radio with FM recording
• Camera: 13 mega pixel digital Camera with video recording support & digital zoom (4000 x 3000 pixels)
• Browsers: HTML, HTML5, XHTML, & Flash browser
• Micro SD memory card slot up to 32 GB
• Micro USB 2.0 port & HDMI port
• Bluetooth connectivity
• Wi-Fi connectivity
• 3.5 mm universal audio jack
• GPS with A-GPS support

Now those are some mighty fine specs, we just hope Motorola officially announce it soon so we can get a crack at it.

Source: Motorola, TechSangv