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During November last year we reported that the popular DVD ripper aXXo had decided to take a break and stop releasing new material for a while. It now seems that he is back in business. A few hours ago aXXo uploaded his first movie in months. He chose “I Am Legend”.
Since November 11 2007, when the last official aXXo torrent was uploaded, it has been awfully quiet. Some people assumed that aXXo had got himself caught while others claimed he had an accident. After a while it became clear that he simply decided to take some time off.
An administrator on Darkside RG, the official home of aXXo explained at the time: “aXXo told us that he has decided to take a break, so you will not see new aXXo torrents anywhere for a while. Please show your support by keeping his torrents alive until he comes back, as always, he will post here first when he does.”
Now, after nearly four months of absence aXXo has returned, and uploaded his first .torrent on Darkside RG and other torrent sites. It’s the news that many BitTorrent users have been waiting for.
Marking his comeback with the movie “I Am Legend” could be seen as symbolic. Before aXXo decided to take a break, an estimated one million people downloaded his DVDrips every month. The search term aXXo was undoubtedly the most popular at many torrent sites. Although there are conflicting opinions in respect of the quality of his work, there can be no dispute that he was, and still is, very popular indeed.
While some see him in an almost religious light, others have been quick to take advantage of his popularity for nefarious purposes, or have used the aXXo brand to draw attention to their own releases, like KLAXXON did.
Even though some see him as a legend, aXXo certainly isn’t without his critics but whatever the position, his popularity is indisputable…..along with his modesty. [Torrentfreak]

We were already blown away by Johnny Lee’s headtracking demo using a Wiimote, but it looks like Sony’s trying to take it mainstream in a much slicker way. The company was demoing a PS3-based headtracking system at GDC that doesn’t require any special IR glasses to function — it just uses a bone-stock Playstation Eye camera to track your ugly mug around the room. Sony says it’s not announcing the system for any games yet, but we can’t imagine devs aren’t clamoring for this to get official — this would be amazing for all sorts of genres. Video after the break. [Engadget]

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Phil Harrison, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS) will resign on February 29th. Harrison has been with Sony since 1992, when he joined Sony Electronics Publishing. That Sony branch later evolved into Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Says Harrison:

The past 15 years at Sony Computer Entertainment has been the defining journey of my life so far. I am grateful to all the PlayStation family for their incredible support, guidance and friendship. It has been a privilege to serve as part of the team and be inspired by them on a daily basis. I am so proud of everything PlayStation has achieved and will continue to support its future in every way I can.

Perhaps it was the friction a cranky Phil Harrison alluded to at GDC, concerning the difficulties of working with Sony Japan that lead to his decision. Perhaps it was something else. Regardless, SCE CEO Kaz Hirai will assume Harrison’s role as well as attend to his own duties as SCE CEO. Full press release after the jump. [Kotaku]

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You could hear the collective sigh from the crowd. When Steve Jobs unveiled the newest member of the Macintosh fold, the skinny MacBook Air laptop, the Mac-faithful sighed with pleasure. But it was just a momentary exhale.

Once the magnetic effect of Jobs’ personality wore off, even fans who had lined up by the thousands at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco to hear Jobs Tuesday morning were groaning. 

“Lame,” said software developer Jukka Laiho, when asked for his opinion of the keynote address.

It didn’t help matters that Laiho was one of hundreds of attendees who arrived early, only to be shut out of the keynote as the show’s organizers tried to suck in a long line of people. “I woke up at 5 o’clock this morning and stood three hours in queue, only to miss the first 50 minutes of it,” Laiho groused.

Is Apple’s MacBook Air, with its $1,799 price tag, a machine you want? One you need? Will you buy one this year? Weigh in. Add your thoughts in the Reader Comments section below.

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With 2007 being the year where we saw quite the media furor over violence in videogames, it’s not surprising that there’s still quite a bit of fuss around the touchy subject. However, things may have been taken a bit too far with this particular incident, as a gamer who goes by the name of Matt shares his rather nightmarish encounter with the staff of a Best Buy branch.
So, just what happened, anyway? It all started one night, when Matt and his 15-year-old brother were on their way to dinner. They decided to stop by one of Best Buy’s local branches in order to pick up a copy of Assassin’s Creed (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), as well as an Xbox Live Gold subscription. It was smooth sailing until Matt and his brother headed for the video game section, where things went quickly downhill.
To cut a very long and painful story short, not only was Matt and his brother publicly questioned about their intent on buying Assassin’s Creed and the Xbox Live Gold subscription, the staff wasn’t all that great in handling the situation, either - condemning Matt for “illegally purchasing the game for a minor”.
This was after repeated assurances by Matt (who was of age and brought ID with him) that he was buying Assassin’s Creed for himself, and not for his brother. And even when things seemed to have reached an uneasy compromise - the staff said that Matt could buy the game after he walked his brother out of the store and came back in - it was never resolved, with the cashier refusing to sell Matt the game itself. He was able to buy the Xbox Live Gold subscription, however.
Definitely a horrible tale to tell, and a situation that could’ve been handled with more tact and civility than outright hostility.  [qj.net]

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced major software updates for its iPhone and iPod Touch devices. iPhone users now can send SMS messages to multiple people and iPod Touch users get access to several applications that have been available on the iPhone: Mail, maps, stock quotes, notes and weather reports.
Most significantly, however, is the addition of a GPS-like positioning feature: Rather than using a GPS receiver, Apple consulted with Google and Skyhook Wireless to come up with a technology that uses triangular Wi-Fi and cellular beacon layouts to determine the location of a device. iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature through the free iPhone software upgrade 1.1.3, while people who already have purchased an iPod Touch will have to shell out an extra $20 for the upgrade. All new iPod Touch devices will come with the positioning feature without extra cost. [Toms Guide]

Happy New Year everyone! We hope you had a great year and if you did not you have next year to look forward too! As this year comes to a close, I wish you a good one and a good next year!

Happy Holidays from MicroTechXP! We wish you stay safe and get lots of presents on Christmas! What are you guys going to be doing today/tomorrow? Post here in the comments or visit the MicroTechXP Forum Discussion to diccuss this!

Those MP3 and AAC files that you’ve ripped from your CD collection are still “unauthorized copies” in the eyes of the recording industry. In a brief filed late last week, the RIAA said that the MP3 files on a PC owned by a file-sharing defendant who had admitted to ripping them himself were “unauthorized copies.”
Atlantic v. Howell is a bit unusual because the defendants, husband and wife Jeffrey and Pamela Howell, are defending themselves against the recording industry’s lawsuit without the benefit of a lawyer. They were sued by the RIAA in August 2006 after an investigator from SafeNet discovered evidence of file-sharing over the KaZaA network. 
The Howells have denied any copyright infringement on their part. In their response to the RIAA’s lawsuit, they said that the MP3 files on their PC are and “always have been” for private use. “The files in question are for transfer to portable devices, that is legal for ‘fair use,’” reads their response.
After several years of litigation and nearly 30,000 lawsuits, making a copy of a CD you bought for your own personal usage is still a concept that the recording industry is apparently uncomfortable with. During the Jammie Thomas trial this fall, the head of litigation from Sony BMG testified that she believed that ripping your own CDs is stealing.
When asked by the RIAA’s lead counsel whether it was wrong for consumers to make copies of CDs they have purchased, Jennifer Pariser replied in the negative. “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song,” said Pariser. Making “a copy” of a song you own is just “a nice way of saying ’steals just one copy’,” according to Pariser. [Arstehnica.com]

Nintendo DS users in Japan will soon be able to download video, images, books legally.

Generally speaking, little devices for the DS that make use of MicroSD memory are bad for Nintendo’s business – but coming soon for the Japanese market is a fully-licensed Nintendo DS cartridge that will accept MicroSD flash memory as a storage medium to deliver video, images and text onto the handheld.

Developed by Dai Nippon Printing and AM3, the product called DSvision will appear much like any normal Nintendo DS game, except that on its side is a slot to accept a MicroSD card. Users of the product will be able to utilize a download service to load TV shows, comics and books for viewing on the Nintendo DS.

The DSvision will come packed with the Nintendo DS cartridge, 512MB MicroSD and a MicroSD-to-USB adapter for 3,980 yen ($36). Users will use the adapter to load media on using a PC when the program launches in March 2008, though details on pricing for the download service are not clear.

Unlike some other MicroSD devices for the DS, the DSvision is fully licensed by Nintendo. Other similar devices, such as the R4, are sold as gray-market devices and can be used to pirate Nintendo DS games with relative ease.

“We are keeping a close eye on the products and studying them. But we cannot smash all of them,” a Nintendo spokesman said, referring to the popular Nintendo DS piracy tool. But, as the saying goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. [Dailytech]