A domed stadium in Regina could be successful, a feasibility study released Monday says, although the question of who would pay to build the multimillion-dollar facility remains to be answered.
Reminder: Windows 7 RC shut downs begin today
Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) copies will begin restarting every two hours today.
Microsoft officials warned of the prompts and bi-hourly shut downs in early February. A brief summary of the events can be found below:
Effective March 1, 2010, Windows 7 RC enters the next phase of expiration:
Windows 7 RC users…
Canada outlasts U.S. for hockey gold
Sidney Crosby took a pass from Jarome Iginla and scored just under eight minutes into overtime to give Canada a 3-2 win over the United States and the gold medal in Olympic men’s hockey on Sunday.
Olympic closing ceremony celebrates Canada
The closing ceremony of the Vancouver Games kicked off with typical Canadian self-deprecation, but quickly became a celebration of Canada and its athletic and cultural achievements – often with a twist of humour.
PlayStation Network down, so are lots of PS3s (update)
It’s unclear exactly what’s going on at the moment, but it appears that the PlayStation Network is down and causing a whole host of related problems for PS3 systems, including 8001050F error codes, game crashes, corrupted trophy info, and even the complete inability to launch certain titles. There’s no ETA on when things will get back to normal — looks like it’s gonna be a Blu-ray kind of evening for PS3 owners out there.
Update: Sony’s tweeted that it’s “looking into it,” and our boys at Joy say that owners of original PS3s are seeing their clocks reset and even data loss in some cases. We’ll keep you updated.
Update 2: Given that issues started to appear as February 28th became March 1st, it’s being speculated that the PSN woes are related to an improper handling of leap years. Similar to the issue that bricked those Zunes back in 2008. Sorry, manually setting your date doesn’t help, we tried.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
PlayStation Network down, so are lots of PS3s (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Canada golden in men’s curling
It may have taken eight years, but Kevin Martin took that next step up the podium he was seeking with a 6-3 win over Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud in the Olympic men’s curling final Saturday at the Vancouver Olympic Centre.
Canada sets Olympic gold record
Canada has rocked the Vancouver Olympics in a way nobody anticipated.
Canada wins gold in men’s speedskating pursuit
A solid gold touch of redemption shone on Canada’s men’s long-track speedskaters on Saturday as they finished first in team pursuit at the Winter Olympics.
The Blade That Would Make Helicopters Almost Silent [Helicopters]
Helicopters make a lot of noise because of a physical phenomenon called blade-vortex interaction. Eurocopter engineers have developed a new kind of rotor blade that attenuates this problem. It's called Blue Edge, and—as you can hear—it works beautifully:
The new blade shape is combined with another technology called Blue Pulse, which adds three flaps to the edge of the rotor blades. These flaps move up and down at 15 to 40 times per second, using piezoelectric motors that also help to reduce the blade-vortex interaction. [Autopia]
Google Adds Location Filters to Search Results [Search Techniques]
Google has added a new Location feature to their Options sidebar, allowing you to filter search results to find things near you. To access it, click the Show options link near the top of the search results page, then click the Nearby link. (You can also customize the location if your default isn’t right and tweak the search depth based on city, region, or state.) It’s interesting to watch as more and more web services incorporate location; part of the original importance of the web was its ability to make location irrelevant, but clearly location is an important part of the web’s future. [Refine your searches by location]
Canada blanks U.S. to win gold in women’s hockey
Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice in the first period and Shannon Szabados made 28 saves as Team Canada beat the United States 2-0 to win the gold medal in women’s hockey at the Vancouver Olympics on Thursday. It is Team Canada’s third consecutive gold medal.
Flames sign Bourque ($3.3 million X six years)
The Flames have signed Rene Bourque to an extension.
On the verge of becoming an unrestricted free agent, the rambunctious left-winger is playing out a contract that pays him a salary of $1.4 million US.
Starting next year, Bourque, 28, will pull down $3.3 million US. The term is six seasons.
Profile Relocator Moves Windows Profiles to a New Location [Downloads]
Windows: If you want to store your Windows profiles independent from your system drive and standard Windows directories to protect against loss and corruption, Profile Relocator makes short work of moving your profiles directory.
The best time to use Profile Relocator is after a fresh install of Windows when moving empty profiles poses minimal risk and the least chance of conflicts. If you’re set on moving your profiles in an existing installation it is possible and Profile Relocator won’t delete the old profiles in the old location so if the move causes any complications you can just switch things back.
Like with all tinkering under the hood in Windows it sounds simple enough to just move your profile directory but any number of complications can arise when it’s done on an established installation. Set a system restore point before making the move and read the included documentation carefully.
Profile Relocator is freeware, Windows only, and requires Microsoft .NET 2.0+. Have an application that’s handy for remodeling the guts of your Windows installation? Let’s hear about it in the comments.
Team Canada flattens Russia in quarter-finals
Ryan Getzlaf, Dan Boyle, Rick Nash, Brenden Morrow, Corey Perry, with two goals, and Shea Weber scored as Team Canada thumped Russia 7-3 in their men’s hockey quarter-final at the Vancouver Olympics on Wednesday night. Canada will take on either Slovakia or Sweden in the semis.
Train VS Flood
Life expectancy in Canada nears 81
Newborn Canadians may live to celebrate nearly 81 birthdays on average, a Statistics Canada report on life expectancy suggests.
Bruce Willis Says ‘Die Hard 5’ Could Shoot Next Year
Yippie-Ki-Yay… get ready to die even harder.
Canadian internet slow, expensive: Harvard
A new report from Harvard University says that contrary to what the CRTC states, Canada has some of the slowest and most expensive internet access in the developed world.
Report: Walmart’s Buying Vudu After All (UPDATED) [Walmart]
The New York Times is saying that Walmart will acquire Vudu, the online movie service. The report’s consistent with earlier rumors, and may just be a match made in heaven. UPDATE: Walmart’s confirmed the acquisition; press release below.
Walmart sells more DVDs than just about anybody on the planet, but have so far been shut out of the increasingly popular movie streaming business that’s buoyed Netflix recently. Vudu gives them a convenient way into that market without having to build from the ground up.
For Vudu, selling out couldn’t come at a better time: they’ve never been profitable, although they’ve been gaining some traction by having their players embedded in increasing numbers of TVs. Being owned by the world’s largest retailer will help them build on that momentum. It also gives consumer electronics makers even more incentive to preload their sets with Vudu, since Walmart will be more inclined to sell products that incorporate a property that it owns.
But what about for consumers? Actually, it could end up being a win there, too. Nobody’s more effective at driving down prices than the big box retailer, and giving Vudu more visibility and market share should lead to some healthy price competition.
Time will tell, but the could be one business transaction that ends up making sense for just about everyone.
Walmart Announces Acquisition of Digital Entertainment Provider, VUDU
Company takes next step to enhance home entertainment and information delivery options for consumers
BENTONVILLE, Ark., Feb. 22, 2010 — Walmart announced today a definitive agreement to acquire VUDU, Inc., a leading provider of digital technologies and services that enable the delivery of entertainment content directly to broadband high-definition TVs and Blu-ray players. The deal is expected to close within the next few weeks.
VUDU is a revolutionary service, built into a growing number of broadband-ready TVs and Blu-ray players, that delivers instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows directly through the television. Customers with broadband Internet access and an Internet-ready TV or Blu-ray player can rent or purchase movies, typically in high-definition, without needing a connected computer or cable/satellite service. New movies and features will be added continually, enabling customers to enjoy a product that continues to become more robust long after they have left the store.
“The real winner here is the customer,” said Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chairman for Walmart. “Combining VUDU’s unique digital technology and service with Walmart’s retail expertise and scale will provide customers with unprecedented access to home entertainment options as they migrate to a digital environment.”
VUDU has licensing agreements with almost every major movie studio and dozens of independent and international distributors to offer approximately 16,000 movies, including the largest 1080p library of video on-demand movies available anywhere. Via their broadband Internet connection, users have the ability to rent or buy titles and begin viewing them instantly.
VUDU will continue developing entertainment and information delivery solutions such as VUDU Apps, a platform that delivers hundreds of streaming Internet applications and services to TVs and Blu-ray players with built-in Internet connectivity. VUDU has partnered with some of the leading names in Internet and media entertainment to offer applications on its platform including Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, The New York Times and The Associated Press.
“We are excited about the opportunity to take our company’s vision to the next level,” said Edward Lichty, VUDU executive vice president. “VUDU’s services and Apps platform will give Walmart a powerful new vehicle to offer customers the content they want in a way that expands the frontier of quality, value and convenience.”
VUDU, based in Santa Clara, Calif., will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walmart. The company is not disclosing financial terms of the agreement as the acquisition is not material to its first quarter earnings for fiscal year 2011.
[NY Times]