Norton Antivirus Hacked

There is a very nasty unpatched exploit in Norton Antivirus. So for those Norton users out there, might I suggest Zone Alarm Security Suite I switched to it a few month ago, and have been very happy with it.

Famitsu E3 Survey Released

Famitsu revealed the reader's most wanted next generation game titles at E3.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, Nintendo)
2. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Square Enix)
3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3, Konami)
4. Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen & The Tower of Mirrors (Wii, Square Enix)
5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii, Nintendo)
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo)
7. Final Fantasy III (NDS, Square Enix)
8. Monster Hunter 3 (PS3, Capcom)
9. Biohazard (Wii, Capcom)
10. Halo 3 (Xbox 360, Microsoft)

Which console are you most interested at E3?

• Wii - 68.8%
• PlayStation 3 - 21.0%
• Xbox 360 - 7.2%
• Nintendo DS - 3.0%

What do you think about the price of PlayStation 3?

• The price is high - 88.4%
• The price is appropriate - 10.9%
• The console is low-priced - 0.7%

PostgreSQL 8.1.4 Released, Update ASAP

PostgreSQL 8.1.4 has been released to help combat a SQL injection security issue. So if you use pgsql, update ASAP.

No Need For PS3 Games

"We have built up a certain brand equity over time since the launch of PlayStation in 1995 and PS2 in 2000 that the first five million are going to buy it, whatever it is, even it didn't have games."

-Sony Computer Entertainment Europe CEO David Reeves

PS3 UK Price £425

Sony's 60GB PlayStation 3 will be priced at £425 ($803) when it ships on 17 November in UK, the head of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's UK operation has revealed. He went on to call the machine "cheap" and a "bargain". If this gets any "cheaper", I think most people will like, not buy it.

Google Release AJAX Framework *UPDATED*

Google released their JavaScript framework they created. This was originally designed for interfacing with their Java backend.

Update: Just found out a bit of trivia, this project internally is named "Red Pill".

Post E3 Thoughts

E3 2006 has come and gone. It turned out pretty much exactly opposite of what I thought it would. I thought E3 would be Sony's to lose. Going into it, I figure Xbox 360 will have no coverage. The console has been out for more than five month, everyone knows what games are out for it, and what games are coming. It's not as if Microsoft is trying to be secretive about it.

I figure Wii will have strong interest from Nintendo fanboys, but that's pretty much it. Sony will roll out PS3, and out comes the PS3 hyper train, steaming rolling everyone over.

Boy was I wrong.

I think it's fair to say among the "non-stake holders", half of us thought Nintendo won the E3, the other half thought Microsoft won the E3. Everyone agrees Sony lost E3, and everyone agrees that in terms of graphics, Xbox 360 won.

The battle is far from over of course, Sony remains very powerful, and can't be counted out. I still think in the final analysis, it's still PS3 vs Xbox 360 for the number 1 position in US and Europe. I don't know if Wii will be able to give PS3 a run for its money. Gamecube did very well in the E3 wars as well. But look where it ended up. The biggest problem Nintendo faces, is really same old same old. At the end of the day, the only company that really does a good job making games and by extension, making money on Nintendo console, is none other than Nintendo. Xbox 360's chance in Japan is very slim. The outcome of the PS3 vs 360 battle however, will determine if Japan or US controls videogame creation for the next 10 years. Will it stay in Japan's court, or will US take over? I don't really know. But I think that's the single most exciting thing I got out of E3 this year. For the first time, we really have no idea what lies ahead. It wasn't like the last time, where PS2 is out, game over.

Kudos to Microsoft for making every E3 trailer and demo available on Xbox Live Marketplace. It's a very effective way to bypass magazine, media, bloggers and go straight to the paying user base.

I'll end with some memorable quotations on the E3 events.

silence.... (after Sony's PS3 price announcement)

"PS3 is probably too Cheap" -K

"Uh, are they insane? Base on what we all know, for what they want on a PS3 deluxe, you can get a 360 and Wii. That's fucking insane!" -D

"M, you have a tendency to back losers." -H & K

"Since when did Americans become such bad asses in videogames?" -J

sounds of people rushing Nokia's booth(they were next to Konami's booth) because Konami's booth was full already from people waiting to see MGS4 trailer.

People gasping when Snake puts a gun in his mouth and pull the trigger during the trailer.

"You have a zero percent chance of success, the barrier to entry in terms of cost, quality required, access to a market… forget it." -W at Indie Game Seminar

"This is the PS3 price. Expensive, cheap - we don't want you to think of it in terms of game machines. For instance, is it not nonsense to compare the charge for dinner at the company cafeteria with dinner at a fine restaurant? It's a question of what you can do with that game machine. If you can have an amazing experience, we believe price is not a problem." -K

MacBook Finally Released

MacBook is finally released. This is one of the worst kept Apple upcoming product. The spec won't shock anyone. I'm bummed out it's only available in Black and White. All the other colors did badly in Apple's own survey, so I'm not surprised. But still, darn it I want a pink one!

Also, Apple has offically embraced Intel's crappy built-in videocard for their low end products. Both MacBook and MacMini have it across the board. Bye bye gaming.

Google and Haskell

Turns out Google is using Haskell for Map Reduce implementation. I bet it's tied to their Hierarchical model.