A variety of complaints about SP3 are being posted on the Web, with users complaining about system crashes, spontaneous reboots, and other issues. On the Windows XP forum at Microsoft.com, for instance, a poster named Doug W. said that, after installing SP3, he had to use system restore "after three attempts, with different configurations each time." He mentioned that his system has an Athlon chip from Advanced Micro Devices, and other users have reported similar problems with SP3 on AMD machines.
AMD-Based HP Machines
According to news reports, a Microsoft document lays the blame for the endless reboot problem after installing SP3 on some computer makers. The issue, the document said, is when the XP disc image is created on an Intel-based computer and then run on a non-Intel-based machine, such as an AMD one.
Jesper Johansson, who used to work for Microsoft, noted on his blog that Microsoft identified the same problem with Service Pack 2 for XP, and that the particular problem is unique to Hewlett-Packard AMD-based desktop machines.
He quoted the company as saying in an article written following the XP SP2 problem that it did not support using a computer with one kind of processor to run an operating system based on an image created on a computer with another kind of processor. The article described how to modify the Windows registry to correct the problem.
SP3 was released to broad distribution by Microsoft last Wednesday, and is available from Windows Update service or from the company's Download Center. It offers a variety of fixes and enhancements to XP, which Microsoft has said it will...
Specifically, Wedbush Morgan Securities on Monday said it expects April U.S. retail video-game sales to reach $830 million. That's a 113 percent increase compared to the year-ago period, which totaled $389 million in April 2007.
That estimate reflects $765 million in sales contributions from new platforms, including the PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, PSP and Nintendo DS, as well as current-generation software sales of $65 million. Wedbush estimates Nintendo's Wii leads the video-game sales with 600,000 units, followed by Sony's PS3 with 290,000 units and Microsoft's Xbox 360 with 275,000 units.
Wedbush expects future increases to be even more dramatic thanks to the releases of Nintendo's Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness for the DS, Mario Kart for the Wii and Take-Two's Grand Theft Auto IV for the PS3 and the Xbox 360. So it appears that the video-game sector is highly recession resistant so far this year.
Wii Shortage Impact
"April has been among the hardest we have had to forecast," said Michael Pachter, a security analyst at Wedbush Morgan. "In addition to the ever-changing Wii supply situation, we are faced with the launches of three phenomenal sellers in April."
Wedbush estimates GTA IV sold 3.3 million units in its first six days in the U.S., for total sales of $210 million, while Nintendo's Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Mario Kart each sold 1.25 million units, for total sales of about $110 million.
Since April 2007, Nintendo has manufactured 1.8 million Wiis per month, shipping an average of only 600,000 per month to the U.S. The company announced its intention to ship...
But thanks to some high-tech sleuthing by Dupalga -- plus the fact that the thieves were known to the victims -- police were able to nab the alleged perpetrators: Edmon Shahikian, 23, and Ian Frias, 20.
Back to My Mac
Dupalga's career as a digital private eye started when a friend messaged her congratulations on recovering her computer. The friend said Dupalga had "popped up as being online," in the words of Daniel Jackson, deputy director of public safety for White Plains.
Dupalga immediately got onto another Mac and signed on to her .Mac account, which includes a feature called Back to My Mac. Apple promotes the feature on its Web site this way: "Access and control your Mac running Mac OS X Leopard from any other Leopard-based Mac over the Internet."
So that's what Dupalga did. She turned on the laptop's webcam, which soon enough revealed a man sitting in front of the machine. She snapped a photo, which displayed a countdown on the screen. "It all clicks for him, and he puts his hand up to cover the lens, but it was too late. She had already taken the picture," Jackson told The New York Times.
Lessons for Enterprise?
A photo of a suspect is a "great lead," Jackson said, but wouldn't be enough to identify the person -- at least not without a lot of additional work. But this case came to a rapid...
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