March 06, 2006, 3:17 PM PST
360 owners: Outfit yourself online before the game releases
Posted by: David Rudden

THQ is offering Xbox Live fans a unique opportunity, posting an online-multiplayer-enabled demo of its WW2-based shooter, The Outfit, before the game releases--the first demo of its type on the Xbox 360. For 360 owners with Gold memberships, you can get a taste of what the final game will offer when it releases next week. Silver members will get split-screen multiplayer and like it, because no one wants to listen to a Silver member complain.

To learn more about this game and other highly anticipated upcoming titles, check out our "Xbox 360 games coming soon" feature.

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March 06, 2006, 12:55 PM PST
Oh, the good old days of telecom monopoly
Posted by: Molly Wood

Hey, remember when AT&T owned the telecom world? Good times. Good times, in fact, that we may be about to revisit. AT&T will buy BellSouth for $67 billion, making it a telecom monolith with full ownership of Cingular Wireless. And in response, Verizon could try to buy Qwest Communications and buy out Vodafone's stake in Verizon Wireless...and pretty soon, we'd be only one or two moves away from telecom monopoly checkmate. Then in comes the government, and we get to start the dirty little play all over again.

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March 06, 2006, 12:15 PM PST
Mac OS X lasts 30 minutes in concerted hack attack
Posted by: Molly Wood

Mac security takes another hit this week, as an OS X hacker claims it was "easy pickings" to take control of a Mac Mini and win a "hack my Mac" contest in less than 30 minutes. The hacker, Gwerdna, says he accomplished the feat using one of many unpublished exploits for Mac OS X. Good thing they're still unpublished...uh...as of today.

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March 06, 2006, 11:42 AM PST
HP nx9420, nc6320 laptops woo biz users
Posted by: Michelle Thatcher

Today HP announced two new laptops for business users: the heavy-duty nx9420 and the midsize nc6320.

The 7.4-pound nx9420 walks the line between midsize and desktop replacement, and it features a 17-inch wide-screen display with a choice of WXGA+, WSXGA+, or WUXGA resolutions. The rest of the specs indicate that this laptop is loaded for number crunching, graphic design, and other intensive tasks:

• Intel Core Duo processors from 1.67GHz to 2.17GHz
• Up to 4GB of swift 533MHz or blazing 677MHz RAM
• Discrete ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics (256MB)
• Hard drives from 60GB to 100GB, either 5,400rpm or smokin' 7,200rpm
• DVD/CD-RW drive or a dual-layer DVD burner with HP LightScribe disc labeling.

The company claims that the nx9420's battery life can exceed four hours, which would be impressive for a laptop with this size display and these components; we look forward to testing that claim in our labs. Starting price for the nx9420 is $1,499.

Also announced today, the nc6320 offers a bit more portability and a lot of configurations, with pricing starting at $1,049:

• Choice of 14-inch XGA or 15-inch XGA or SXGA+ displays
• Economical Celeron M or the latest Core Solo and Core Duo processors
• Up to 4GB of 533MHz or 677MHz RAM
• Integrated Intel graphics
• 40GB to 100GB 5,400rpm hard drives
• Optional WWAN connectivity through Verizon
• Optical drive options include a DVD burner.

Both new models include business-grade security features, such as fingerprint readers, smart-card readers, and a Trusted Platform Module. The HP nx9420 ships later this week, while the nc6320 is expected in early April. We have review units of both machines in CNET Labs, and we'll post a full review soon.

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• See product information for HP Compaq nx9420
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March 06, 2006, 11:13 AM PST
Censorship: it's annoying AND dumb
Posted by: Molly Wood

One tiny little thumbnail photo, the vaguest hint of nudity, and suddenly technology news site Boing Boing is lost to thousands of people whose companies use a hyperactive censoring service called SmartFilter--which those companies had hoped to keep a secret. Oh, and of course, Boing Boing's launched an anticensorship blogosphere war, too. See? Censorship just ain't worth it.

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March 06, 2006, 9:54 AM PST
Dish ViP622 first impressions
Posted by: David Katzmaier

The first HD satellite DVR that can record MPEG-4, Dish Network's ViP622, arrived at my in-home testing facility--er, living room--a week or so ago, so here's what I think so far:

The good: I've been living with its predecessor, the excellent Dish DVR 942, for the last year or so, and I haven't had any complaints. (Full disclosure: Both Dish and DirecTV, along with many, many other companies, provide CNET with free hardware for review purposes.) The two boxes have essentially the same functionality and features, but the ViP622 has the ability to receive Dish's new MPEG-4 HDTV broadcasts, which include seven new HDTV channels announced at CES in addition to four local HDTV stations via satellite. Both Dish and DirecTV have announced they're moving to MPEG-4--which is incompatible with current satellite receivers--for all future HDTV channels, and as of today, both providers broadcast HD locals to 12 cities, with more coming this year (more info: DirecTV cities and Dish cities).

The bad: The first review sample of the ViP622 that I received had some issues, none of which endeared it to my girlfriend. While we were watching live TV, the box would freeze, not responding to remote commands, sometimes as often as twice or three times in an evening. Restarting the unit by holding down the power button for 10 seconds solved the problem, but it would be a good 5 to 10 minutes before the box activated and we were able to resume watching--and if we were recording something, there'd be a 10-minute gap in the program. I experienced freezes so often that I asked Dish for a new review unit, which I installed this weekend and will have activated tonight. In the interests of avoiding domestic strife and finishing my review, I hope this new one works better.

The pre-bottom line I expect the ViP622 to score well in the review, providing it functions properly, mainly because of its excellent features (see the DVR 942 review for a rundown). In short, it's the most fully featured HD receiver/DVR on the market, and it sets the bar pretty high for DirecTV's own MPEG-4 HD DVR, successor to the venerable DirecTV HD TiVo and dubbed the HR20, which is scheduled for release this summer. Not to mention that Dish has more HD channels than DirecTV if you count the 15 wacky Voom channels--they're even at 7 each if you ignore Voom. BTW, after living with those Voom channels for a while, I can tell you that the programming is generally less interesting than that of most channels and is quirky at best, but there are a few gems, especially among movies and sports. Among the 15, there's usually something interesting to watch on any given day. And they're all HD, all the time, although image quality varies widely.

More random observations:

• Like DirecTV, Dish says it will limit local HD broadcasts to the "big four" for now: ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. Those channels on Dish in New York are 6300 to 6303, and they look pretty good so far.
• There's an annoying new interstitial page on the ViP622 that appears whenever you access the DVR menu of recorded programs, called Dish on Demand, that I suppose is designed to drum up more PPV biz. Hey Dish: can you make this disable-able?
• According to its diagnostic tests, the ViP622 recognized my Vonage phone connection without a problem, although I haven't tried ordering a PPV flick yet.
• The ViP622 has a higher capacity than the DVR 942: 30 hours of HD content vs. 25.
• Other differences on the ViP622 include an S-Video output for TV1 (finally!); slightly different key coloration on the remote (still one of the best DVR-centric clickers ever, IMO); the slightly different appearance of the box (I like the old DVR 942 better but not by much); and a much-needed firmware tweak that automatically reschedules timer conflicts to the next available rerun.
• Sorry SlingBox geeks and custom-IR-control heads: the 622's remote codes for the TV2 output are still RF-only. TV2 does work great with my RF Link AVS-5811, though.

We'll have a full review of the ViP622, including a comparison of the image quality of MPEG-4 locals vs. OTA locals in New York, in the next week or two. In the meantime, feel free to enjoy this coverage, and if you have any review requests drop 'em into the TalkBack.

• Dish DVR-942 review (2005)
• CES 2006 Dish Network announcement
• A comparison of Dish and DirecTV's current satellite HDTV packages and hardware
• PocketDish first impressions
• Editors' top DVRs
• Beginner's guide to choosing a DVR
• News.com: DirecTV | Echostar (Dish Network)

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• See product information for ViP622 Satellite DVR
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March 06, 2006, 9:06 AM PST
MovieBeam finds fix to HDMI issue
Posted by: David Rudden

Following up on last week's HDCP-MovieBeam-Misubishi mix-up, we have received word from MovieBeam that the problem has been found and is in the process of being resolved. According to MovieBeam representatives, Mitsubishi TVs take a little longer to recognize HDCP sources, and an update will allow the MovieBeam to recognize that. The update will be sent over the air, so all customers should receive it soon. All boxes shipped from MovieBeam in the future will have the update already included. Speaking of shipping, CNET should be receiving a MovieBeam unit for review before long, and we'll be sure to give the product a rigorous HDCP workout.

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