Microsoft have announced a new name for their Xbox 360 motion-tracking peripheral today. The Microsoft Kinect - a play on 'kinetic' and 'connect' - allows users of the XBOX360 console to interact with their games and media without a physical controller.

Kinect is expected to sell for $150USD, and should be available for purchase in the near future.

Video chat for up to four persons simultaneously is also rumoured, along with a slimmed down Xbox 360 model.

Check out the possible uses for Kinect here!

Sources: Major Nelson via Engadget

Yes, you've read correctly, TPG is going unlimited! A representative of TPG who goes by the name 'Dan.S' has posted the following on Whirlpool:

TPG is pleased to announce an exciting up and coming change to our ADSL2+ product range. For this first time we will offer an Unlimited Broadband product for only $75 a month that has:

· No Shaping Speeds.
· No Time Limits or Time Restrictions.
· ADSL2+ technology.

What makes this even more exciting is that for an extra $1 our Home Phone Line Rental can be purchased as an optional add on at the time of purchase. A $10 Minimum call charge for TPG Home Phone applies. This product will be available at Limited Exchange Coverage areas only. More details to be provided at the time of product release.

Regards,
TPG Internet

This is a clear response to AAPT's unlimited offering, which costs $100 per month, but includes line rental and $50 of monthly music downloads.

Perhaps the greatest aspect out of all this is the ability to stream on-demand media without worrying about quotas. The day where we can finally dump optical discs for online entertainment services may well be upon us!

It's official, Microsoft have released their new mobile OS. It's not Windows Mobile any more, in name nor functionality - it's literally a new OS experience. Playing on their lucky 7 history (read: Windows 7), Microsoft has taken the plunge to deliver a fancy new way to cater to user wants and needs. I've scoured the Internet for information on this new competitor, and have collated the main points of interest.

• Xbox Live integration
• Zune-esque UI (Metro)
• Social networking centric
• Fixed hardware specifications between mobile partners. This includes the processing hardware, high resolution (WVGA) capacitive touchscreen, and three dedicated buttons 'back', 'start' and 'search'.
• Four-point multitouch
• 'Hub' based navigation. These include 'Games', 'Office', 'Music + Video', 'Pictures', 'People', 'Marketplace' and 'Applications'.
• Consistent UI between partners. No more custom UI on top of the existing Windows OS.
• Large range of carriers including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone
• Several hardware partners - Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC, HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm
• Possibly no more multitasking. Background applications will 'pause'.
• Sync over Wi-Fi

It's become clear that Microsoft are taking this market very seriously, and have laid down the lines for what is expected of their partners. It begs the question, has Microsoft restricted this platform similar to the iPhone? Let's hope it's a good mix between the openness of Android, and the consistent quality of the iPhone.

If you haven't already heard, there was a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on Australian government servers recently. The intent was to bring attention to the message "no one messes with our access to perfectly legal (or illegal) content for any reason." The culprits go by the name 'Anonymous', and appear to have a strong opinion against Senator Conroy's decision to censor Australian Internet. It's fair to assume that these attacks were to prove how powerful this group is, and that messing with their rights to free speech and access on the Internet will not be taken lightly. A protest, of sorts. But was this attack a demonstration against an Internet clean feed, or another chip on the anti-censorship sholder?

It's no secret that Senator Conroy is oblivious to the impact his proposed ISP level Internet filter will have on Australians. It's a product designed to block websites in accordance to a secret blacklist, the performance hit is significant, and the technology can be easily bypassed via readily available means. Essentially, it's useless. It'll cost tax payers millions of dollars, and protect no one. It will, however, be quite successful in terms of an unavoidable performance hit. For a country which is behind in terms of Internet speed and quota, that's just unacceptable.

The action Anonymous has taken against the government's servers is nothing short of malicious. Similar to how protesters deliberately cause nuisance to draw attention to their cause, Anonymous has blocked access to certain government websites via a swamp of server requests. In addition to this, they took the opportunity to send recently restricted porn to government offices, particularly the Communications department.

Concerns have been raised over the appropriateness of such an attack. Conservative politicians thrive on taking otherwise clear-cut situations, and adding irrelevant or incorrect analysis to push their agenda. This is quite clear by how they promoted their Enex ISP filter test results as successful. Of course, their idea of a working ISP filter had the following conditions:

• Performance impact is considered negligible if it is less than +/‐10 percent;
• Performance impact is considered minimal if between 10 and 20 percent;
• Performance impact is considered noticeable if more than +/‐20 percent.

If it's only "noticeable" once you've lost 20% "performance", then there's a problem. A serious problem. Sadly, the report was riddled with such silly assumptions and uninspiring data. This brings us back to the point that politicians will happily dictate what we "want" to hear, provided they're able to push their agenda. In this case, they sugar coated the impact of the filter on Internet speed; and that's before they ran the tests! So when you have a vigilante group attacking their servers, you can only imagine the spin they'll produce to paint the informed userbase as "hackers". To the general public, this sounds like a matter of 'hackers' vs 'child safety', rather than 'informed citizens' vs 'dodgy filter'.

Apart from the blatant opportunity for Conroy and his minions to cast naysayers as 'the bad guys', the message that Anonymous attached to their cause is also misrepresentative of what people are fighting for. "The Australian government will learn that one does not mess with our porn." Sorry, but that's not the message you want to be putting out there. Religious citizens vote too; the last thing you want to do is tarnish the cause with your own agenda. Although it's arguable that a large fraction of the community share the same feelings, it's of my opinion that focusing on the censorship aspect is of much more importance, and encompasses the blocking of porn anyway.

It quickly became clear that many anti-filter groups were also disgusted at the actions of Anonymous. Comments on articles such as the one at AtomicMPC showed a general objection to their attacks. The fact that no mainstream activist organisations such as No Clean Feed have approved or acknowledged the attacks shows how little respect these people have attained. No one is willing to tarnish their reputation as a fair opposition to the filter. The Australian Sex Party was quick to deny responsibity or association with Anonymous.

As much as it pains people to think that we could be censored similar to the likes of China, it's also irresponsible to launch attacks against the opposition. One can only imagine the thoughts running through peoples minds as they read the news in their daily paper.

What do you think? Were Anonymous' actions justified? Reply in the comments section below!

I hope to see you there!
- Vito Cassisi

I don't have details on who is responsible, or why these directories were removed, however I am investigating if it was a malicious attack.

Sorry for any inconvenience guys,
Vito Cassisi

UPDATE (0:40 - 17/01/09):
It turns out that spammers have hijacked my hosting service, possibly via an insecure forum/WordPress script. The hosting provider is currently working on tracking down the source of the problem. It saddens me that they're relaying spam via my domain. Hopefully all this will be sorted soon.

UPDATE (03:00 - 17/01/09):
Passwords have been changed and everything seems to be fine. Will keep a lookout for any suspicious activity.

The struggle between an R18+ game classification and Attorney General Michael Atkinson's conservative views has taken an unexpected twist today. Sega's long awaited game Aliens vs Predator (AvP) was refused classification on the 3rd of December due to its high level of realistic violence, but has has been overturned after an appeal by the developer. The games new MA15+ classification comes with a warning of "Strong science fiction violence" which apparently excuses the R18+ level of mature gameplay.

It's clear that the Australian Classification Review Board is seeking to allow mature media through any way they can. It begs the question, is this current decision an act of vigilance toward Michael Atkinson and his blatant refusal to pass R18+ legislation? It wouldn't be surprising if the CRB is doing this to favour a R18+ classification, in order to ensure media can get through without inconsistencies in their decision process. There's a strong push for mature games to be allowed in Australia, and at this point in time the only way to do so is to pass it off as an MA15+ title. The sooner Mr Atkinson realises this stark reality, and how parents may be buying this type of violence for Christmas due to no R18+ warnings, the easier this process will be for both the CRB and those who purchase games for their children. As much as I disagree with strong violence being passed off with such a low rating, it may be the only way for the conservative masses to realise their silly counter-productive ways.

Do you agree with the CRBs decision? Let us know in the comments section below!

Off-peak times vary between plans, so check that out before you upgrade. For more information, hit TPG's website.

Consistency is key. That's what my high school English teachers used to tell me. If you're going to produce mediocre work, at least be consistent about it. There's nothing like a wave of marks which show that you're not only incompetent, but lazy. Do well, do shit, do well, do shit. It reeks of 'I can't be fucked'. So when I heard that Australia's 'Classification Review Board', now known as the 'epitome of incompetence' released their revised stance on the yet to be released game Left4Dead 2, I couldn't help but notice the lack of consistency that this board appears to thrive on.

Ignoring the fact that Australia doesn't have an R18 classification due to pure stupidity, Australia classifies games into one of either G, PG, M15+, MA15+, and our favourite, RC (refused classification). What bothers me is that those on the classification board find it increasingly difficult to make up their mind. What makes a game M, MA15+ or RC? They quite simply couldn't tell you. Well, they could, but you'd get 3 different answers, depending on the time space continuum and the curvature of its travel.

Now, you're probably thinking, "This guy is just ranting! Surely they'd be capable of correct judgement!" I wish that were so. But it isn't, and this can be simply seen by the complete lack of consistency between classification of past (and current) decisions. To get some perspective, lets quickly take a look at the reason for Left4Dead's refusal by the CRB:

"...it was the Review Board’s opinion that there was insufficient delineation between the depiction of general zombie figures and the human figures, as opposed to the clearly fictional ‘infected’ characters. This was a major consideration of the Review Board in determining the impact of this game on minors."

Umm, they're zombies. Yes, they're based on human figures. That's what zombies are, risen-from-the-dead run-of-the-mill humans. But let's play Devil's advocate, and say that this was a fair call. The game is very bloody, and violent, and to inflict mass murder on human-like pixel structures would be a bit too much for "minors". The question is, why would a minor be playing a MA15+ game? Unless their parents allowed them to do so, which is ultimately their choice, the classification clearly states it's for those who are of the age of 15 or greater. The fact of the matter is, what's to stop a parent from giving their child alcohol? Nothing. It's bad, sure, but it's not up to the government to ban alcohol from the population, is it?

But let's assume that the CRB has a reasonable answer to that point. Technically a 17 year old is still a minor. Which, in my opinion, is silly in this context since most 10 year olds know the difference between a game and reality; including applicable ethics. But I digress. Let's take a look at another game that the CRB recently classified under MA15+, named Wolfenstein. This is CRB's official stance on the game. Keep in mind the reasons for L4D2's ban whilst you watch this in-game video of Wolfenstein:

Gore? Check!
Dismemberment? Check!
Human enemies? Check!
Melee and gun based weaponry? Check!
RC classification? Whoops!

I guess they accidentally let this one slip though. Nope! They did the same with Fallout 3, another MA15+ classified game. Take a look:

Gore? Check!
Dismemberment? Check!
Human enemies? Check!
Fictional enemies? Check!
Melee and gun based weaponry? Check!
RC classification? Again, whoops!

Finally, to add salt to the wound, there's the original L4D! Which, you guessed it, is also MA15+. Apart from the added melee weaponry, L4D2 is very similar to its predecessor. Not to mention that this is only a fraction of MA15+ games that are similar, if not more violent, than L4D2. It begs the question, if these games are allowed through, why is L4D2 any different? Inconsistency. Plain and simple.

And that's not all, our favourite senator Michael Atkinson, sole campaigner against the R18+ classification, doesn't trust the CRB either! So it would appear that both sides are in agreement that there's something very very wrong with the classification board. For the click impaired, a quote from Atkinson:

"There are many games that are ultra-violent and accessible to minors. I accept that one can't always trust the Office of Film & Literature Classification to apply the guidelines in their plain meaning - it will stretch them to get things through for the industry."

Indeed. And they do it ever so inconsistently! On another note, why refuse an R18+ rating if they're apparently letting them through anyway? Hmm...

When you look at the situation, it becomes clear that it's one giant catch 22 situation. The CRB needs an R18+ classification so it doesn't have to make excuses to allow otherwise R18+ games to be classified under MA15+, or RC. On the other hand, Mr Atkinson isn't willing to trust the CRB until they RC almost every game on the market. So, as usual, the consumer loses. Until Atkinson moves on, of course.

Until then, for the sake of adult gamers (i.e. the majority), it's clear that the CRB need to review another product - themselves. Perhaps three times, and take an average.

When Australia's best journalists get together to form a brand-spanking-new geek driven live show, you know you're in for a treat. Ben Mansill, founder of the enthusiast magazines Atomic and PC PowerPlay, and Seamus Byrne, dedicated freelance writer, have fused their oversized grey-matter processing devices to produce what has quickly become a hit amongst geeks.

Byteside is about bringing together experienced journalists to tackle important world issues. And by that, I'm clearly referring to gaming and tech. The weapons of mass discussion are led by host Seamus Byrne in front of a live audience in Sydney's Shelbourne Hotel, every second Tuesday. Audience members prod the panel of geeks by asking the hard questions, and are then left to embrace the deliberation they've so eagerly stimulated.  Where else can you chat to your favourite journo whilst having a cold one? This is what makes it so special.

Anyone can attend, provided you're of drinking age (i.e. 18+). It's a wonderful chance for the average geek to express their ideas and opinions in front of the best the industry has to offer. To bridge the gap between reading magazine/website content, and discussing one-on-one with those who pen them, is an opportunity that most readers only dream of. Now it's a reality. And best of all, it's free!

For more information about attending Byteside events, or to watch recorded footage, head to Byteside.com

Windows 7 boasts a faster, less resource intensive, and highly responsive upgrade from its predecessor Windows Vista. Whether its improved performance remains intact is another matter, especially once the OEMs get their grubby hands into creating custom images.

Microsoft blogger Brandon LeBlanc has confirmed that Windows 7 will indeed be offered with a family pack. This 'pack' allows home users to install Microsoft's latest OS on 3 PCs within a home. Home Premium is the only version involved with family pack licensing.


"I know there have been some rumors going around about a “family pack” for Windows 7. We have heard a lot of feedback from beta testers and enthusiasts over the last 3 years that we need a better solution for homes with multiple PCs. I’m happy to confirm that we will indeed be offering a family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium (in select markets) which will allow installation on up to 3 PCs. As I’ve said before, stay tuned to our blog for more information on this and any other potential offers."

This is great news for those with multiple PCs in their home. Note the 'in select markets', so there's still ambiguity regarding the matter.

Windows 7, as of the 22nd of July, is 100% complete. It's been officially signed off and will be available to the general public on the 22nd of October.

North Carolina watch out! There's been Internet hype for the last few days about an apparent sewage life form with alien-like physique. Fortunately, it's now safe to go outdoors - and flush the toilet. No, the military didn't go in with flamethrowers and machetes to tackle this clearly threatening beast. It was solved with science!

A representative of the Raleigh Public Utilities Department, by the name of Ed Buchan, informed media that the pulsating blobs were merely a colony of Tubifex worms that "seem to respond to the light from the camera. That light is pretty hot."

Check out the video footage below.

I've been discussing the future of this site with a few peeps in the journalism industry, and I've decided that future posts will include news stories and interviews. But not just any old news stories, only the ones that are exciting and genuinely interesting will be covered to spare you the anguish. :P

The interviews will be with those who are making a mark either on the Internet, gaming, and tech scenes. I'm currently contacting possible interviewees, watch this space!