Filed under: Gaming, Networking

If you think video conferencing is reserved for stale meetings that serve little purpose aside from burning up your time, Airhockey Over a Distance aims to ice that perspective. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) created the table (or should we say, "tables") to showcase the "power of advanced networking" and joins a host of other wild ways to get your game on. The table plays like your average air hockey match, except the opponent's half is in another location, and replacing your ferocious counterpart is a screen with a live video feed of him / her and a fancy puck-ejecting system. Sensors at the midway point of the table detect the angle, speed, and trajectory of the not-exactly-oncoming puck, and instructs the mechanism how and where to fire the disc -- you slap it back, and the same sequence happens on your compadre's end. Because this was crafted solely to show the wonders of "computer-mediated human-to-human interaction," there's currently no plans to take this prototype into sports bars or internet cafés, but one question still remains: what happens if the puck gets hung at center ice?

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Google this week announced that they would be showing Adwords advertisers how many clicks are not being charged to them. The move is in response to growing unease among advertisers that anywhere between 10%-30% of their PPC spend is being wasted on fraudulent clicks - known as clickfraud. Although the move by Google should be welcomed, [...]

Filed under: Media PCs

In a market becoming saturated with one HTPC offering after another, VidaBox is launching what seems like just another HTPC line-up for those too busy to build their own. Four strangely familiar looking models are headed your way: the ROOMMATE, SLIM, LUX, and MAX, which aside from performing all the usual functions -- recording live TV, storing music and photos, and sporting a snazzy case -- feature "unparalleled storage offerings." The LUX and MAX models offer up to 3.75TB of storage and includes their "VidaSafe" technology (which appears to be RAID, folks) to keep the machine running and your files recoverable, even if one of the hard drives fails while operating. As with most pre-built HTPCs, they don't come cheap, and with prices ranging from $1,499 to near-infinity, the VidaBox line-up can satisfy your wildest home theater desires if your credit card can stand the punishment.

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Filed under: Media PCs

In a market becoming saturated with one HTPC offering after another, VidaBox is launching what seems like just another HTPC line-up for those too busy to build their own. Four strangely familiar looking models are headed your way: the ROOMMATE, SLIM, LUX, and MAX, which aside from performing all the usual functions -- recording live TV, storing music and photos, and sporting a snazzy case -- feature "unparalleled storage offerings." The LUX and MAX models offer up to 3.75TB of storage and includes their "VidaSafe" technology (which appears to be RAID, folks) to keep the machine running and your files recoverable, even if one of the hard drives fails while operating. As with most pre-built HTPCs, they don't come cheap, and with prices ranging from $1,499 to near-infinity, the VidaBox line-up can satisfy your wildest home theater desires if your credit card can stand the punishment.

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Filed under: Features, Networking

Lately, the power grid appears to have gone to hell. An Uninterruptible Power Supply(UPS) just isn't an optional piece of equipment anymore -- it's not for nothing that very decent UPS has a computer interface port. If your computer is connected to the port, and the software is set up, the UPS can tell your computer to safely shut down before the battery runs out.

Got a couple of machines sharing a UPS? In today's How-To, we'll show you how to use your network to shut down all of the computers plugged into it and keep your precious data safe. In order to set up your UPS to run two (or more) machines, you'll have to use a network connection to tell the other machines what to do. Step one: don't forget to connect your network hub or switch to your UPS! For today's how-to, we'll have a machine running Ubuntu Linux and a machine running Windows XP. The UPS is connected to the Linux box via serial (or USB) cable. The Linux box will supply UPS status information to the Windows machine. When we're done, both machines can safely shutdown during an extended power outage.

Newer APC units seem to be including USB cables. Most of the older APC UPS units (like our handy BackUPS 500) have a serial port. If you need to build a new serial cable like we did, a quick visit to pinouts.ru may provide the info you need to make it.

If you just have a single Windows machine, you can use XP's basic UPS functionality. (We always find that installing less software is a good thing.) Just open up the power control panel and click on the UPS tab. Configuration is simple, but not very flexible -- even a little annoying in that it doesn't include a method to test your UPS without shutting down the machine. We'll cover setting up a network client on the Windows box later.

Installing Network UPS Tools under Ubuntu Linux is easy. Open the synaptic package manager (inder the System->Administration menu) and search for 'nut'. Select the package for installation and click on Apply.

To get things going, we have to create and edit five configuration files on our Linux box.

Edit /etc/default/nut with your favorite editor (example: sudo vi /etc/default/nut). Change the options to match above (i.e. no to yes).
Create and edit /etc/nut/ups.conf - (sudo vi /etc/nut/ups.conf)
The configuration is pretty simple. The compatibility list is a good place to start. Check the compatibility list to find out what driver/upstype to specify. For our APC BackUPS, it just the generic UPS driver, and we used serial port ttyS0.
It should look like this:
[deskups]
driver=genericups
port=/dev/ttyS0
upstype=2

Once that's configured, you can run upsdrvctl start to see if your UPS driver is working.
We had to do a quick chmod 777 /dev/ttyS0 command to get things going. If you have two serial ports, you may need to try using /dev/ttyS1 instead.

Create and edit /etc/nut/upsd.conf. (sudo vi /etc/nut/upsd.conf)
Our remote Windows box is located at ip address 10.0.0.57, change it to suit.
If you want to allow your local network, put in the network address (i.e. 10.0.0.0/24)
ACL all 0.0.0.0/0
ACL remote 10.0.0.57/32
ACL localhost 127.0.0.1/32

ACCEPT localhost
ACCEPT remote
REJECT all

Create /etc/nut/upsd.users. Put the following:
[monuser]
password = USERPASS
allowfrom = local
upsmon master

Create /etc/nut/upsmon.conf, add the following:
MONITOR ups-a-name-o@localhost 1 monuser USERPASS master
SHUTDOWNCMD "/sbin/shutdown -h +0"
replace MASTERPASS with your master password.

Get a copy of the latest WinNUT here. Download and install it in the usual fashion. At the end of the installer, the WinNut configuration tool will start.

Click the Edit button next to the configuration file path.
In the first blank line, add the following
MONITOR deskups@10.0.0.10 1 upsmon USERPASS slave
deskups is the name of the UPS.
10.0.0.10 is the ip address of our Linux box.
The 1 says that 1 UPS must be running for the box to stay up.
USERPASS is the password from the upsd.users file.
slave tells the box to shut down ASAP so the master can shutdown first.
Save the file and close notepad.
Go back to the configuration tool and hit Apply and start WinNUT.

For testing, just push and hold the button to the Test position. You'll get several notifications on the Linux box, and a pop-up should appear on the Windows machine. Once everything is working happily, open the WinNUT configuration tool and set it to run as a service that starts up automatically. The Ubuntu services should start up thanks to the changes made to /etc/default/nut.

If you have a pair of Windows boxes you'd like to do this with, that's tough. Ok, we do have a few tricks: we've had good luck connecting GPS units up to multiple hosts serial ports just by wiring the ports together. You might be able to do a similar hack, but we haven't tested that one. So don't come crying to us if you break it.

Otherwise, that should be that. Let the rolling brownouts and blackouts begin!

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Filed under: Media PCs

Integra introduced its Viiv-based NVS-.7.7 Media Center PC today, aiming it squarely at custom installers who want to get their customers up and running with minimum hassle. They'll have to pay for that convenience, of course -- an even three grand -- but that'll buy 'em a pretty beefy system, including a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 D820 processor, 1GB RAM, 400GB hard drive, and both digital ATSC and analog NTSC tuners, not to mention the usual plethora of ports. The box has also got you covered on the audio front, apparently being the first media server to include Dolby's Master Studio technology suite for full 7.1 channel surround sound, as well as an Integra-designed sound card featuring Wolfson 192kHz/24-bit DACs and Vector Linear Shaping Circuitry, which promises smoother, more detailed stereo analog output. If that sounds like your thing, get out your credit card, cause this sucker's available now.

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Filed under: Media PCs

Integra introduced its Viiv-based NVS-.7.7 Media Center PC today, aiming it squarely at custom installers who want to get their customers up and running with minimum hassle. They'll have to pay for that convenience, of course -- an even three grand -- but that'll buy 'em a pretty beefy system, including a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 D820 processor, 1GB RAM, 400GB hard drive, and both digital ATSC and analog NTSC tuners, not to mention the usual plethora of ports. The box has also got you covered on the audio front, apparently being the first media server to include Dolby's Master Studio technology suite for full 7.1 channel surround sound, as well as an Integra-designed sound card featuring Wolfson 192kHz/24-bit DACs and Vector Linear Shaping Circuitry, which promises smoother, more detailed stereo analog output. If that sounds like your thing, get out your credit card, cause this sucker's available now.

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Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless, Networking

With its Rosedale I fixed WiMax chip already out the door, Intel is now focusing on the real holy grail of this technology -- mobile WiMax -- with the just-announced Rosedale II long-range wireless solution. According to company exec Chris Beardsmore, Intel already has ten confirmed customers for the new chip, who will begin producing compatible products later in the year. As you might expect, the first implementations of Rosedale II will involve external laptop cards, while integration into the Centrino platform should happen late next year or in early 2008. Intel is pushing mobile WiMax as a better alternative to the 3G networks offered by cellular providers, and as long as it helps force companies like Verizon to lower the fees on their pricey broadband data packages, we're all for a swift and widespread deployment.

[Via WiMax Networking News]

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Filed under: Wireless, Networking

Broadband Antenna Tracking Solutions, or BATS for short, is a start-up company founded by a group of Purdue University professors who are developing an auto-aiming antenna system for wireless networks. Using proprietary software and off-the-shelf electronics, the system works by mounting a seeker antenna on a stationary or mobile object (boats and vehicles included) and allowing the powerful tracking software to keep a constant lock on the nearest target antenna. Currently designed for WiFi and fixed wireless broadband radios (WiMax support is planned, if ever needed), the BATS system can maintain a connection longer and suffer less interference due to the directional antennas broadcasting a fixated beam. The movement of the seeker antenna is controlled by two servo motors and a programmable logic controller (PLC) that is directed by software calculations, which in tests could maintain a signal on a moving watercraft for 12 miles, and keep a cruising vehicle connected for 8 miles. The application is, of course, of relatively limited use for civilians, but if there's a chance we'll see it commercialized since the BATS management team is currently seeking potential investors to get this project dialed in.

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

You wouldn't necessarily think that San Diego's annual Comic Con would be a hotbed of videogame news, but this year's event proved different, as Sony revealed a number of exciting future plans for the PSP. At a seminar called PSP University (man, we sure wish we could have spent our college years at that institution), company execs confirmed that the portable console will indeed work as a remote for the PS3, and that the upcoming firmware update will support RSS video feeds for the built-in web browser. Furthermore, Sony is apparently in talks with wireless providers to provide more Nintendo DS/Wayport-like hotspots for online gaming, and is also looking at ways to bring downloadable movies to PSP owners -- which sounds to us like another foot in the grave for the almost-dead UMD. Not all the news here is good, however, as those folks expecting a Sony-branded keyboard for their console will likely be in for a disappointment; in fact, the company has no plans whatsoever to improve text entry on the PSP at all. Other new info centered around games and demos, and since that's not really our bag, we'll leave those details to other fine publications like Joystiq and PSP Fanboy.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

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