Kin available tomorrow, but pricing may hamper adoption
Microsoft's Kin One and Two will be available to prospective buyers within days, though the pricing and data plans seem to fall in an awkward spot for a device the companies are targeting at teens. Microsoft announced Wednesday that the two devices would be available on Verizon Wireless' website as of May 6 and show up in stores on May 13. After a $100 mail-in rebate and a new two-year contract with Verizon, the Kin One will cost $49.99 and the Two will cost $99.99.
Microsoft unveiled its latest foray into the mobile market last month: a successor to the Danger Sidekick running Microsoft's own software based on Windows Phone 7. The Kin One is a small touchscreen QWERTY slider phone with 4GB of flash memory for storage and a 5 megapixel camera optimized for low-light use. The Kin Two, on the other hand, is a larger, more traditional-looking QWERTY slider, with a larger, wider touchscreen. It has 8GB of storage and an 8 megapixel camera that can shoot 720p HD video.
The idea is to go after the lucrative and impressionable teen market with these almost-but-not-quite-smartphone devices—after all, this is where the Sidekick excelled during its heyday. However, the pricing (and more importantly, the service plans) could put a damper on widespread adoption among teenagers. As noted by mocoNews, the $100 mail-in rebate comes back in the form of a debit card, not a check, so those $50 and $100 price tags truly are more like $150 and $200. On top of that, Verizon's voice and data plans for the Kin cost a minimum of $60 per month. And that's not taking into account the extras, like a Zune music subscription and whatever else may be tacked on.
Price tags like those may not be attractive enough to get teens to ditch what they know and try something new. The iPod touch is already acting as a gateway drug to the iPhone for the younger generation, and an iPhone 3G can be had for $99 without rebate and comes with a similarly-priced voice-plus-data plan. That's not to say that all teenagers lust after iPhones, but Microsoft and Verizon appear to be missing an opportunity to combine smart-looking phones with an attractive cost of entry.
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Microsoft killing off support newsgroups
Microsoft has announced that it intends to phase out its support newsgroups. The company currently has more than 2,000 public newsgroups used for tech support and developer dicussion, but in recent years has been migrating to a more commonplace, Web-based discussion forum platform. On top of these newsgroups, there are a further 2,200 private newsgroups used for beta discussion, MVP communities, and other closed communities.
The closure of the newsgroups will begin next month and will start with the least trafficked newsgroups, with users redirected to the relevant support forums.
The rationale that Microsoft gives is that the NNTP newsgroup platform is old and unsupported. Though the newsgroups did include official Microsoft representatives, they were unmoderated, and frequent victims of spam and virus attacks. Further, Microsoft's own newsgroup servers only had a 90-day retention policy, meaning that valuable answers ended up being purged. The forums, in contrast, are a platform that Microsoft actively develops. They are more accessible, especially since they show up in Web search results, and they offer additional functionality like answer acceptance and voting. These features, Microsoft believes, make them a better solution for online support.
The company says that newsgroup usage has dropped by half in the last year, while the online forums are seeing sizeable growth. This makes the decision to end the newsgroups unsurprising. Nonetheless, as an occasional user of the newsgroups since their introduction in 1996, and a fan of their old-fashioned, plain-text, threaded interface, I'm a little sad to see their demise.
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Fears of IP address black market largely unfounded
Obtaining IPv4 addresses has been getting more difficult in recent years, as ARIN and the four other Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) keep tightening their policies and procedures. So with the well running dry, where can an intrepid IP address user turn to get that IPv4 fix? The black market, of course. Economists have been predicting the emergence of a black market for IPv4 addresses for some time. Some industry experts say it's already here. We say, not so fast.
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It used to do more: Sony's flip-flopping PS3 history
The news that Sony is being sued after removing support for Linux from the PlayStation 3 serves as a reminder that the console has changed quite a bit since its release. While we have a new, slimmer version of the PS3, many of these changes have come as a result of Sony removing features that were once heralded as selling points for the console. Sony doesn't seem to be able to make up its mind about what is important and what can go. Here's a look at how the company's stance has changed as features have been dropped.
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feature: A carefully designed madness: Ars reviews Alan Wake
Alan Wake was first shown to the public at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, and was originally a tool to help drive gamers to DirectX 10, and by extension Windows Vista. Since that time, the PC version has been killed and the game is now an Xbox 360 exclusive. PC gamers certainly have reason to be bitter—this is an original, compelling game. Combined with Heavy Rain, it proves that video games have come a long way in the art of telling a story that doesn't rely on space marines or World War II.
Alan Wake is a best-selling novelist, writing books about a hard-nosed New York cop named Alex Casey. After a run of successful crime thrillers, Wake killed his meal ticket with his latest novel, "The Sudden Stop." After that, he found himself in a sort of hell, suffering from writer's block. His wife thinks the best thing for him is to escape to the scenic town of Bright Falls, and maybe they can rediscover his love of writing together. But something wants to keep him in the sleepy town, and its grasp is tight.
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iPad pushing average apps prices higher, but not by much
Developers are keen on using the launch of the iPad to "re-calibrate" app pricing expectations, though an analysis by Distimo reveals that average iPad app prices are less than one dollar higher than average prices for iPhone-only apps. Despite these numbers, plenty of developers are having success charging far more than 99¢, the most popular price point for iPhone apps.
Distimo's analysis compares the average price of some 5,000 iPad-ready apps to the 185,000 iPhone apps available at the end of April. The average selling price of iPad apps is $4.67, compared to an average price of $3.62 for iPhone apps. These averages include all the free apps that are available, pushing the numbers even lower.
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Is it high noon for net neutrality at the FCC?
The net neutrality troops are up in arms over a Washington Post report suggesting that the Federal Communications Commission wants to throw in the towel, more or less, when it comes to regulating ISPs like Comcast. Sources at the agency have told the Post's Cecilia Kang that FCC Chair Julius Genachowski "wants to keep broadband services deregulated," presumably standing pat following a DC Court decision striking down the agency's 2008 rebuke of Comcast for P2P throttling.
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Google's new buggy microblogging Web app aims to educate
Web applications are susceptible to a wide range of Web app-specific security flaws. Though Web developers are often aware of at least some of the common modes of attack, they are many and varied, and problems such as cross-site scripting continue to cause problems.
To help address this issue, Google has published a new microblogging application, Jarlsberg, that's just chock full of bugs. Along with Jarlsberg comes a series of exercises designed to teach people what the different flaws are, how to find them, and how to fix them. The tutorials use both black-box techniques, where attackers treat the application as a black box with no knowledge of its source or internals, and white-box techniques, where attackers know everything about the system.
The exercises are informative and seem to be put together well. They introduce the different kinds of flaws and show off the range of ways in which each flaw can be exploited. With each flaw there are hints of where to look to figure out each problem, and a description of how to fix the problem. Many of the fixes themselves have additional flaws, which the tutorial also identifies. This reflects the unfortunate situation that many fixes that developers use are incomplete, and can themselves be circumvented.
The Jarlsberg code is offered under a Creative Commons license for use in other training exercises by computer scientists, software engineers, and developers. This kind of training is immensely valuable, even for developers with an understanding of the issues—a lot of Web application attacks are quite nuanced, with each class of attack having multiple vectors. In an ideal world, no one would even publish a Web application without having gone through these exercises—or training like them—first.
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Canadians drop gloves, punch US in face over piracy list
Once again, Canada appears near the top of the US government's 2010 "Special 301" piracy watchlist. And once again, the Canadians are angry about being classed with China and Russia as the worst places on earth for intellectual property law.
Michael Geist, a prominent Canadian academic at the University of Ottawa law school, slams the report for "bullying" and being long on rhetoric but short on facts. According to Geist, Canada's reputation as a piracy haven simply isn't accurate:
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Google to begin peddling e-books this summer
Although its copyright settlement with publishers is still in legal limbo, Google has announced that it will be starting to sell e-books through an online storefront early this summer. Like Apple and Amazon, Google's store would see it offer up in-print books obtained from publishers, which will retain their ability to set the prices for these works. But there's every reason to expect that the same storefront will be awash with out-of-print books the minute that Google can get a settlement for its ongoing lawsuit approved.
Google apparently dropped the news at a publishing industry event, sponsored by the Book Industry Study Group, and held in New York City. It has since been picked up by, well, just about everyone (many reports seem to be crediting a Wall Street Journal story for the announcement).
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New privacy bill makes your location, sexual orientation "sensitive info"
Major Internet privacy legislation was unveiled today (PDF) by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL). Under the bill, companies would be forbidden from using your cell phone's geolocation information without your consent, and the same goes for information on your race, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. For most other information, a simple opt-out will keep that data—even data already collected—from being used.
Boucher chairs the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, and he has dealt with Internet issues for years (he was a driving force behind the doomed attempt to patch the worst parts of the DMCA, as well); Stearns is the ranking member on the committee. The two today released a "discussion draft" of their new privacy legislation in order to gauge Congressional and public opinion on its ideas.
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Humble Bundle: greatest sale of indie games ever?
A group of indie developers are selling a package of their games which includes some of the biggest independent games on the market. Gamers can name their own price—from 1¢ to $1,000—for a pack of games that would go for around $80 if sold separately. Anyone who buys the package can feel better about themselves as well; customers can send any amount of their purchases to two major nonprofit groups.
The sale, nicknamed the "Humble Bundle" by the studios involved, is certainly epic. The games included in the package are World of Goo, Gish, Lugaru, Aquaria, and Penumbra Overture. Each of these titles has proven to be a solid hit, and the fact that five separate studios are working together to make them available to gamers for however much they wish to spend is unusual. As Jeff Rosen of Wolfire explained to Ars in a recent interview, the close-knit sense of community among indie developers is largely responsible for the sale's existence.
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Craigslist "brothel business" under fire again
Connecticut and 38 other states have subpoenaed Craigslist over what they consider to be the "Craigslist brothel business." The states are looking for answers as to how much money the online classified site is making from sex ads and what steps it is taking to fight prostitution. The move comes a year after Craigslist agreed to shut down its "erotic services" section and step up restrictions on posting sex-related ads, but that's apparently still not enough for the 39 states.
The latest effort is being led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who believes that Craigslist has abandoned its continued promises to fight prostitution. "The craigslist brothel business seems booming," Blumenthal said in a statement. "[T]housands of ads that remain on craigslist—skimpily and slickly disguised with code words. We are asking craigslist for specific answers about steps to screen and stop sex-for-money offers—and whether the company is actually profiting from prostitution ads that it promised the states and public that it would try to block. We’re seeking answers, so we can reach legal conclusions. If it is breaking its promises to the public, it may be breaking the law."
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Court: RapidShare doesn't need to filter user uploads
Yesterday, the online storage locker RapidShare announced that it triumphed in its appeal over copyright holders who demanded that the service take more steps to control online infringement. Because RapidShare does not make uploaded files publicly available (those who upload them can control access), the court found that it could not be held liable for distribution and that running filename filters on all uploads would produce too many false positives.
It's a huge win for the site, which suffered a major setback in the case before a Düsseldorf court back in 2008. In that decision, the court found for rightsholders, and it looked as though RapidShare would have to start prescreening all uploads by file name, IP address, and other measures to preempt infringement.
RapidShare appealed from the Landesgericht (Regional court) Düsseldorf to the Oberlandesgericht (Appeals court) Düsseldorf, which overturned the lower court's decision. According to the new ruling, RapidShare cannot be held responsible for actions of third parties, since it forces people to choose how their content should be distributed rather than making it automatically available to the public.
In addition, the appeals court took aim at several filtering schemes. Blocking all files of a certain type (such as RAR files) was deemed inappropriate, since a file type has no bearing on the legality of an upload. Scanning by IP address was also tossed, because numerous people can use a single IP address. File name filtering tells you nothing about the contents of a file, so that was tossed. Even content scanning was problematic, as the court noted that this would just lead to encrypted files. Besides, even if you could know that a file was copyrighted, it could still be a legal "private backup" not distributed to anyone else.
Given all these problems, the appeals court reversed the earlier judgment. Christian Schmid, who started RapidShare, said, "We are very happy about the judgment. The court has confirmed that RapidShare is not responsible for the contents of files uploaded by its users. The judgment shows that attempts to denounce our business model as illegal will not be successful in the long run. With its 1-click file-hosting model, RapidShare responds to legitimate interests of its users and will continue to do so in the future."
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