And the consumer nets another sudo win… EA removes SecuROM DRM from Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Like DRM? Of course not. No one does. Yet somehow it supposedly makes the world a better place. The last couple of years, especially the last year in particular, game developers have been downright nazi-like in their determination and affinity for this digital cancer that plagues so many digitized services and devices. EA’s SecuROM DRM in particular is a pretty big PITA as it it requires a net connection to “validate” your game each and every time you fire it up. No net connection = no gameplay for you. It’s not quite as bad as Ubisoft’s always-on-don’t-ever-interrupt-me-or-I’ll-cut-you-off DRM. Still, the fact of the matter is, DRM is bad for everyone.

So it’s with great jubilee that I share with you all the good news of the death of SecurROM from Battlefield: BC 2. That disk checking BS has gone the way of the dodos after the latest update/patch which besides killing the cancer, more likely than not tosses in a few bug fixes and other minor housekeeping things to boot. I certainly won’t complain. Anyone else feeling a bit more liberated tonight?

CrunchGear

Windows Phone 7 fail # *insert number here*: No copy & paste at launch.

When people complain that Microsoft is trying too hard to mimic Apple, they’re weren’t kidding. In recent Q&A’s with the WinPhone 7 team, it was made pretty darn clear that at least at launch, copy&paste wouldn’t be anywhere near the OS. Did Microsoft seriously live in a cave during the last 2 years Apple played this stupid game?! Geeze, I just gave M some praise earlier for the progess they seem to be making. And now they go and do something stupid stuff like this. There’s no excuse — nothing but poor planning on their part.

Though as we saw, the lack of such basic copy&paste functions hardly stopped people from snapping up iPhones. Microsoft doesn’t have that Apple mystique however. This holiday gadget shopping season will certainly be interesting no doubt.

Will Windows Phone 7′s lack of copy&paste have you holding off until they catch up with 2003 or did you already whether that storm with the first case of stupidity?

Engadget

SpeakLike for WordPress: Reliable, human-based translations allow you to yak it up no matter where you live.

Go to the local county fair and walk around listening to the various languages and dialects you hear. Depending on where you live, the scope of spoken languages can actually be pretty expansive. Then think that no matter how many languages you think you are hearing in your little corner of the globe, it is but a tiny, minuscule drop in the bucket. Now take second to think about the millions of conversations that go on over the internet each and every day, on a much larger scale than your typical face-to-face encounter. Pretty intimidating huh? So how do people in different locations actually carry on a conversation?

Well, there are many ways in fact. Perhaps the more common options people are familiar with include Yahoo’s Babblefish and Google Translate. Both are machine based translation services that are free of charge and generally “ok” when accuracy is concerned. (Google Voice translations…need I say more…?) But for the sake of today’s featured article, we’re going to look at New York based company, “SpeakLike” and their robust, human-based translation service.

Besides keeping the lights on, why charge? Simple — it’s community driven. As the description highlights, the translation services provided by SpeakLike are the fruits of labor spanning thousands of actual human bodies. Anyone can become a translator by pointing their browser over here. Again, it won’t be enough to live off of, but that’s not the point. Think of it as added compensation for doing something you may find enjoyable.

Employee compensation and other things aren’t what really matters though. What really takes the cake is how the service works. And….? I’ve only had the plugin installed for a little over an hour so I’ll have to update after I have a good solid few days to play with the plugin. SpeakLike CEO, Sanford Cohen, was kind enough to give me some extra credits to allow me to further test SpeakLight for everyone here. My initial impressions are positive so far. The WordPress setup was a breeze. With 35 supported languages as of writing, a pretty large swath of the planet’s population is covered. Not a small feat by any means. Again, we have to stress that SpeakLike isn’t as instantaneous as machine based “real-time” methods, it is more than adequte considering it is a real human doing all the grunt work work. Anything from 24-hours up to mere minutes are available for users — see, impressive for us mere mortals. And, because real humans are behind the translation process, users can expect rock solid, quick, (and common sense filled) translations. For those in a hurry, there’s help there too via traditional machine-based translation services as well, just for when those precious seconds just can’t be wasted on waiting.

Some may be worried about the delay in translations. It’s a valid concern really. Sometimes a delay, if even for a few minutes just won’t do. It’s those times when machine based translations services do really shine. But if you’ve got a few, striking it up with a living, breathing body — for now — just cannot be beaten by any machine.

**For those on the go, be sure to check out SpeakLike’s Photo Translator. Simply snap a picture of some text, click a few virtual buttons, and boom — translations on the go!

Stay tuned as I test out SpeakLike for WordPress. I encourage SpeakLike users to also give me feedback as how to get the most out of the service.

***Interesting Factoid: (You know, being a gadget blog and all), SpeakLike CEO Sanford Cohen’s favorite gadget at the moment is his trusty iPhone 3G.

SpeakLike on Twitter
SpeakLike Website

Is IE9 the first Microsoft browser (in a long, long time) worth using?

Microsoft is certainly finding every last duck and throwing them into line aren’t they? I mean, WinPhone 7 is shaping up to be quite the mobile OS savior. Windows 7 is right up their with 10.6 as far as desktop OS’s go (subjective, I know). And now, one of the most criticized Microsoft products, Internet Explorer, is shaping up to be quite the looker even it’s extremely early preview stage. The biggest news on the IE 9 front is the move to a webkit-based rendering engine. This change will finally allow Redmond’s in-house browser to stay neck and neck with faster, “more modern” browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and Safari to name a few.

So Microsoft unveiled a boat load of information about their next browser. How does it stack up to the competition? In short: pretty darn good. HTML 5 support is the biggie of course with the video support via .h264 as well as hardware accelerated graphics being pegged as other reasons to get all excited. In regards to the embedded video support, at M’s demo today in Vegas, two 720p videos were shown off side by side, stutter free and smooth as warm butter. That’s something I can certainly appreciate even if several other browsers have featured the same features for months now.

Another bragging point can be seen above in the rendering performance with the new webkit roots. Granted, it’s still not as fast as several newer browsers such as the freshly-out-of-beta Opera 10.5 or Chrome 5 dev version. But IE 9 itself is in the extreme early stages. A notable and intriguing showing no less.

I’ve been a very outspoken critic of Microsoft for a while. Not because I loathe them, but because I honestly hope that someday an employee would stumble by here and think: “Hmmm, where can we improve?” Whether they heard my criticisms or not, across the board Microsoft is making some decent and noteworthy strides. I’d even go as far to say that I’d love to see Microsoft take the whole IE9, Windows 7, Xbox, Media Center ecosystems and mesh them altogether into some uber platform that truly fits together — every nook and cranny. Such cohesion is generally an Apple-only trait. But if Microsoft can pull it off, they’ll have something special.

Excited — if not for the shear awesomeness (I can’t believe I’m saying “awesome” — in a positive tone — and “IE” in the same sentence) of any particular Microsoft product of late but instead of the overall picture that finally looks to be coming together? Focusing more specifically on IE 9, is this the browser from Microsoft that will finally be worth using and even recommended?

The curious bunch can pick up a copy of the early IE 9 preview here+. Bear in mind however that it is extremely basic as of right now, lacking even a basic address bar. Let us know how it goes for you!

Gizmodo

Fallen soldier slowly regaining eyesight with…tongue? [BrainPort]

If you ever find yourself looking at modern medical tech and thinking “This is it?”, take a gander at the “BrainPort” device fitted to Craig Lundberg’s tongue. Craig was tragically wounded when a grenade exploded near him, rending his eyesight null and void. But the BrainPort is bringing it all back. Slowly at first, but with time and development, could be the next big thing for those with little-to-no eyesight.

The BrainPort at first sounds pretty odd — a camera mounted on the person sends information to a probe fixed to an individual’s tongue. It is there that a black&white 2D image is somehow passed through the tongue and into the respective areas in the brain via electrical pulses allowing the wearer to “see” once again. It’s not perfect yet as the wearer cannot eat or speak while wearing the contraption. Anything is better than nothing though.

According to Craig, the BrainPort is like “licking a 9V battery”. Hey, if I were in Craig’s shoes, I’d lick 9V batteries all day to regain even a smidgen of my previous eyesight. Wouldn’t you?

See the BrainPort in action

Neatorama > Arboroath > BBC

Actual shocker: Moto DROID outsells iPhone in first 74 days on sale.

Alright, why 74 days as a benchmark? It’s a bid odd for sure. The iPhone took 74 days to hit 1 million units sold, so it’s an easy benchmark to go by for other phones. In the case of the DROID, it’s met and surpassed the iPhone’s once thought unbeatable number by roughly half a million — no small feat I’d say. Margin of error is claimed to be pretty low since Flurry’s (the company doing the analytics grunt work) analytics tools are on over 80% of all the devices highlighted above.

I knew the DROID did considerably well for Android, Verizon, and Moto, but I’m definitely more surprised that it even beat the iPhone. A new champ we now have, that is, until summer rolls around…

Anyone else surprised?

MobileCrunch

AirStash uses WiFi to spruce up the otherwise “common” flash drive.

Take any assortment of flash drives you see at your typical electronics store. Besides the storage capacity and drive design, there really isn’t anything all too different about them. Sure, some will perform better (read: faster) than others. But overall, a flash drive is a flash drive. It’s only when manufacturers get “creative” do we see anything and everything underneath the sun USB-ified. But every now and then, something truly unique comes along. The AirStash is one such drive, incorporating WiFi and media server capabilities within the device to expand functionality exponentially. What’s great with the WiFi support is that now you can transfer files to and from the device when it’s plugged into a computer (charges drive too!) as well as when it’s not. It’s like a portable network drive in your pocket.

At $99 it’s not the cheapest flash drive for the amount of storage you get — in this case, 0GB. No, that’s not a typo. There is absolutely 0GB of storage. Instead, the integrated microSD/SD card slot allows users to their own cards at will. To me, this is much more beneficial and nicer than typical integrated storage inside of a flash drive. Considering that SD cards currently go up to 32GB, the AirStash looks to be a pretty sweet little device. Now that is a flash drive worth dropping a few extra dollars on, no? Check it out in the vid below.

Video

[Product Page: AirStash]
JK