Microsoft shipped last week the final release version of Windows DreamScene, the Windows Vista Ultimate Extra that lets you use animated desktop wallpapers. A beta of DreamScene was delivered in the beginning of the year, but many had begun to worry that no one was working on Ultimate Extras at all. DreamScene, to most Ultimate users, is only the second “real” Ultimate Extra Microsoft has delivered, besides Texas Hold ‘Em.
Of course, as late (and underwhelming and poorly performing) as this saga has been, what’s even more annoying is that Long Zheng uncovered that DreamScene was actually completed July 19, two and a half months ago. The DLL’s were finalized then, as indicated in the files, so Microsoft completed this a while ago, but just shipped it now.
Granted, it may have taken that long just to get it through Microsoft’s much maligned QA, but still, it’s annoying to think of them sitting on this stuff until someone complains loudly enough. Hopefully they’re working on getting their stuff together, because Ultimate users are your best advocates, and you piss them off, they might find Mac OS and all its extras a little more tempting.
I don’t get this. First, Suicide Girls (a porn site that bills itself as a community) ran this photo series of a pretty lady, who starts off dressed as Master Chief, star of the Halo video games, and finishes off completely naked. I’ve added a little cartoon chief to this photo (to make it slightly cleaner), but you get the idea:
Next up is this statue by artist Dave Johnson, showing a female Master Chief. You can actually buy it on eBay if you win the auction (54 hours left), though the current bid is $1,925, with 10% of the proceeds going to charity.
Check out this ad made for PGR4, called “Skid Art”:
If you remember, this is the ad in which a Ferrari F430 crashed mildly into a wall. Shame they didn’t include the crash in the video. The ad was produced by Method Studios, who also did the latest Halo ads. Honestly, these guys are great, and Microsoft should keep using them.
(via Long)
From Mimoco, these Master Chief USB drives come in 1, 2 and 4 gigabyte sizes, for $50, $70, and $110 respectively, and you can get them in blue, red or traditional Master Chief gray. The gray is part of a 5,000 unit limited run, while the red and blue will be 3,000 units apiece. Buy them here.
(via Engadget)
Then there’s this Halo 3 Flash cartoon, about three guys running to get their copy on launch day. Pretty funny. Hit “1″ just as it starts, or you won’t get the English subtitles.
(via Digg)
Then there’s this statue of John P. Harvard, which some MIT pranksters dressed as Master Chief. Beautiful.
(via Joystiq)
Looks like Microsoft will be launching the second version of its Zune portable media player tomorrow, Wednesday, unveiling the updated hard drive Zune and the cheaper new flash Zune. Engadget has pictures of the display units, which show a thinner, slick little device and some hints of the “squircle” control pad. It sort of reminds me of HTC’s Touch.
Word is Microsoft intends to support older Zunes (and build confidence in the future of the platform) by launching a firmware upgrade for 1.0 Zunes that will give them the newer features of the new Zunes. You won’t get the sleeker hardware, but some new features and better looking software should be a nice prize for early adopters, and send a message that Microsoft intends on upgrading the platform (something it sorely dissapointed on over the last year).
VNUNet talks about a patent reform law being considered in the U.S. Senate, and inventors who are protesting against it, saying it will stifle creativity. The bill, which Microsoft and Cisco are supporting due to their fights against patent trolls, is designed to limit the damages for patent infringement and make it easier to challenge patents that may have been issued erroneously.
(via Neowin)
We’ve said it before, patent trolls are ruining the industry, and something needs to be done. I don’t want to see real inventors lose out on what they deserve, but we need to make it so that a firm that sells no product and bought the patent from its original creator can’t sue those who are actually doing the innovating. Either you should need to have invented it yourself, or you should need to be using the patent, in order to be able to fight for it, and everyone else should go to hell.
