Overlord's shared items

At Google, we have a saying: “launch early and iterate.” While this approach is usually limited to our engineers, it apparently applies to our mailroom as well! As you may have read in the blogosphere, we hit "send" a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open source browser, Google Chrome. As we believe in access to information for everyone, we've now made the comic publicly available -- you can find it here. We will be launching the beta version of Google Chrome tomorrow in more than 100 countries.

The Cupertino-based electronics maker notes that downloading media items from a computer to a media player is often a time consuming process, and one that is limited by the player's storage capacity. Therefore, users who are out and about sometimes find themselves without access to some of their content, which sits inaccessible on their home Mac or PC.

New versions iTunes and the iPhone Software could theoretically eliminate this problem by syncing only the metadata -- or tiny files containing the barebones attributes of each media item or playlist but not the content itself -- from a user's iTunes library to their portable devices.

Using this metadata, iPhones and iPods would contain "virtual media items" representing every playlist, video, photo, and mobile game stored on their computer, even if the sum of those files would ordinarily be too large to fit onto the devices' hard disk drive or flash drive. This is possible because metadata capable of representing a media item consumes only faction -- typically less than 1 percent -- of the space required to store the media item itself.

It seems like some researchers from Radbound University in The Netherlands took advantage of the recent Four Days Marches of Nijmegen walking race for a little experiment earlier this month, where they convinced ten volunteers to swallow an RFID pill as part of a study to monitor body temperature. Apparently, the pills recorded and transmitted the walkers' core temperature to a receiver in their backpack every ten seconds, which in turn sent the data via Bluetooth to a GPS-enabled phone that then relayed it to the operations center at Radbound. With all that info at their disposal, the researchers were able to monitor each walker and alert them if their temperature was reaching a dangerous level, or even alert others nearby if they weren't responding (which apparently wasn't necessary). As you might have guessed, the researchers are already hard at work planning an even larger test for next year's event, which they hope could eventually lead to the system being used at marathons and other sports events.

Not happy enough with the accuracy of your Wii Remote? Nintendo has announced it will be releasing a Wii MotionPlus accessory, built specifically to improve precision.

The MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote, and improves tracking of a player's arm position and orientation. According to Nintendo, MotionPlus provides "a true 1:1 response" during gameplay. The company did not reveal how the Nunchuck will be used when the MotionPlus is attached, although the accessory does look to be equipped with a semi-hidden port on its back.

Nintendo will reveal more details about the Wii MotionPlus at its E3 media briefing tomorrow, which Shacknews will be attending.

"iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.

Last year, Apple managed to sell just 270,000 iPhones during the first two days. Although the Cupertino-based electronics maker did not release a three day tally for first-generation iPhone sales, it would take the company nearly two and a half months to sell its one millionth unit.

"It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world," Jobs added.

Unlike last year when opening weekend iPhone sales took place exclusively in the United States, this year's roll-out was helped by simultaneous launches in 20 additional countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

The third of Team Fortress 2's nine classes to receive class-specific achievements and unlockable weapons will be the Heavy, developer Valve has revealed.

One of the goals of the upcoming update will be to "make the Heavy more viable when he has no Medic to pair with," TF2 director Robin Walker wrote on the game's blog. However, he noted the key challenge is to enhance the Heavy without changing its role relative to the other classes, especially in the fabled the Heavy-Medic combo.

Other variables to consider include the tactical pros and cons of the lumbering giant, such as the Heavy's limited mobility while firing and the minigun's spin-up time.

Beginning as a thin veneer for older software code, it has become an obese monolith built on an ancient frame. Adding features, plugging security holes, fixing bugs, fixing the fixes that never worked properly, all while maintaining compatibility with older software and hardware — is there anything Windows doesn’t try to do?

Painfully visible are the inherent design deficiencies of a foundation that was never intended to support such weight. Windows seems to move an inch for every time that Mac OS X or Linux laps it.

The best solution to the multiple woes of Windows is starting over. Completely. Now.

Apple has released Mac OS X 10.5.4 via the Mac OS X Software Update:

The 10.5.4 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1994.
For detailed information on security updates, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

This represents a rapid turnaround for Mac OS X version updates, with the last point upgrade having been released just one month ago (May 28th). The new update, however, is a requirement for some of the features of Apple's upcoming MobileMe service.

Apple released a pre-release version of iTunes 7.7 for developers tonight. In the Read Me of the iTunes installer is a hint at a previously unannounced iPhone/iPod Touch application:

Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home -- a free download from the App Store.

Apple reveals that they will be offering a free app on the App Store that allows you to remotely control iTunes in your home from your iPhone or iPod Touch. The application will presumably work under Wi-Fi to control playback of iTunes.