Personal Tech

Foam hinders Halo 3 disc scratching down under

MS foam home

James Sherwood Thu 27 Sep 2007 // 15:25 UTC

Not all gamers buying Halo 3 Limited Edition packs received a scratched disc. Copies sent out to Australia apparently contained a cunningly hi-tech device to stop the disc from being damaged.

A video on YouTube has revealed that packs distributed down under included a piece of plastic packaging foam in-between the game disc and the user guide. The foam pressed up against the disc's label, preventing it from falling off the spindle and going walkabouts inside the pack.

Halo 3: an Aussie gamer posts his discovery on YouTube
Can't see an image? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com

Since this vital piece of engineering wasn't included in Limited Edition packs distributed to the likes of the US and UK, discs risked being scratched if they worked themselves loose during transportation.

It's a case of too little too late for some annoyed gamers, who now have to send their scratched copies back to Microsoft through its Disc Replacement Programme for replacement.

Let's hope Microsoft sends out the fresh discs with this vital hi-tech tool...

Similar topics

Broader topics

Narrower topics

Corrections Send us news

Other stories you might like

Trouble hiring? Consider loosening your remote work policy

We're going hybrid or off-prem to retain and lure staff, say polled managers

Brandon Vigliarolo Sat 25 Jun 2022 // 09:22 UTC

For bosses suffering the effects of the Great Resignation, IT decision makers taking part in this survey have a suggestion: go remote and you won't have any trouble hiring people.
That's the overall message from Foundry's 2022 Future of Work study, which examined the pandemic's impact on workplaces and how businesses plan to answer the big question on everyone's minds: do we stay remote, return to the office, or try some mutant hybrid approach of the two?
"[Pandemic-era changes] proved largely successful and once all the benefits of working from home became apparent, businesses began to rethink the structure of how their entire company works," said Foundry research manager Stacey Raap.

Continue reading
Whatever hit the Moon in March, it left this weird double crater

NASA probe reveals strange hole created by suspected Chinese junk

Katyanna Quach Sat 25 Jun 2022 // 02:33 UTC

Pic When space junk crashed into the Moon earlier this year, it made not one but two craters on the lunar surface, judging from images revealed by NASA on Friday.
Astronomers predicted a mysterious object would hit the Moon on March 4 after tracking the debris for months. The object was large, and believed to be a spent rocket booster from the Chinese National Space Administration's Long March 3C vehicle that launched the Chang'e 5-T1 spacecraft in 2014.
The details are fuzzy. Space agencies tend to monitor junk closer to home, and don't really keep an eye on what might be littering other planetary objects. It was difficult to confirm the nature of the crash; experts reckoned it would probably leave behind a crater. Now, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has spied telltale signs of an impact at the surface. Pictures taken by the probe reveal an odd hole shaped like a peanut shell on the surface of the Moon, presumably caused by the Chinese junk.

Continue reading
US senators seek input on their cryptocurrency law via GitHub – and get some

Those town hall meetings that go off the rails? That's the internet all day, every day

Thomas Claburn in San Francisco Sat 25 Jun 2022 // 01:25 UTC

The two US senators behind a proposed law to bring order to cryptocurrency finance have published their legislation to Microsoft's GitHub to obtain input from the unruly public.
The bill, known as the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, was introduced by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on June 7 to create a regulatory framework governing digital assets, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technology.
It has been welcomed by the Stellar Development Foundation and cryptocurrency trade group the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a sign that the legislation doesn't ask much of those it would regulate.

Continue reading

Big Tech silent on data privacy in post-Roe America

We asked what they will do to prevent cases being built against women. So far: Nothing

Jessica Lyons Hardcastle Fri 24 Jun 2022 // 23:26 UTC

Period- and fertility-tracking apps have become weapons in Friday's post-Roe America.
These seemingly innocuous trackers contain tons of data about sexual history, menstruation and pregnancy dates, all of which could now be used to prosecute women seeking abortions — or incite digital witch hunts in states that offer abortion bounties.
Under a law passed last year in Texas, any citizen who successfully sues an abortion provider, a health center worker, or anyone who helps someone access an abortion after six weeks can claim at least $10,000, and other US states are following that example.

Continue reading
More than $100m in cryptocurrency stolen from blockchain biz

'A humbling and unfortunate reminder' that monsters lurk under bridges

Thomas Claburn in San Francisco Fri 24 Jun 2022 // 21:46 UTC

Blockchain venture Harmony offers bridge services for transferring crypto coins across different blockchains, but something has gone badly wrong.
The Horizon Ethereum Bridge, one of the firm's ostensibly secure bridges, was compromised on Thursday, resulting in the loss of 85,867 ETH tokens optimistically worth more than $100 million, the organization said via Twitter.
"Our secure bridges offer cross-chain transfers with Ethereum, Binance and three other chains," the cryptocurrency entity explained on its website. Not so, it seems.

Continue reading
NASA circles August in its diary to put Artemis I capsule in Moon orbit

First steps by humans to recapture planet's natural satellite

Brandon Vigliarolo Fri 24 Jun 2022 // 20:37 UTC

NASA is finally ready to launch its unmanned Orion spacecraft and put it in the orbit of the Moon. Lift-off from Earth is now expected in late August using a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
This launch, a mission dubbed Artemis I, will be a vital stage in the Artemis series, which has the long-term goal of ferrying humans to the lunar surface using Orion capsules and SLS technology.
Earlier this week NASA held a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) for the SLS vehicle – fueling it and getting within 10 seconds of launch. The test uncovered 13 problems, including a hydrogen fuel leak in the main booster, though NASA has declared that everything's fine for a launch next month.

Continue reading

It's a crime to use Google Analytics, watchdog tells Italian website

Because data flows into the United States, not because of that user interface

Richard Speed Fri 24 Jun 2022 // 17:15 UTC

Another kicking has been leveled at American tech giants by EU regulators as Italy's data protection authority ruled against transfers of data to the US using Google Analytics.
The ruling by the Garante was made yesterday as regulators took a close look at a website operator who was using Google Analytics. The regulators found that the site collected all manner of information.
So far, so normal. Google Analytics is commonly used by websites to analyze traffic. Others exist, but Google's is very much the big beast. It also performs its analysis in the USA, which is what EU regulators have taken exception to. The place is, after all, "a country without an adequate level of data protection," according to the regulator.

Continue reading
Arm most likely to list on the Nasdaq, says SoftBank CEO

Hopes of securing London listing for UK chip designer may be in vain

Lindsay Clark Fri 24 Jun 2022 // 16:13 UTC

Arm is most likely to list on the US stock exchange Nasdaq, according to Masayoshi Son, chief executive of SoftBank Group, which bought the chip designer in 2016 for $32 billion.
Although he stressed no final decision had been made, Son told investors that the British chip designer was better suited to a US listing. "Most of Arm's clients are based in Silicon Valley and... stock markets in the US would love to have Arm," Son told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting.
He said there were also requests to list Arm in London without elaborating on where they came from. The entrepreneur did not say whether the conglomerate is considering a secondary listing for Arm there.

Continue reading
Startup rattles tin for e-paper monitor with display fast enough to play video

In grayscale, though. Optimistic plans for daylight-readable display and long-life laptop

Liam Proven in Prague Fri 24 Jun 2022 // 15:45 UTC

E-paper display startup Modos wants to make laptops, but is starting out with a standalone high-refresh-rate monitor first.
The initial plan is for the "Modos Paper Monitor," which the company describes as: "An open-hardware standalone portable monitor made for reading and writing, especially for people who need to stare at the display for a long time."
The listed specifications sound good: a 13.3", 1600×1200 e-ink panel, with a DisplayPort 1.2 input, powered off MicroUSB because it only takes 1.5-2W.

Continue reading
Microsoft issues fix for Windows 11 Wi-Fi hotspots

Meanwhile, 'search highlights' will tell you 'what's special about each day'

Richard Speed Fri 24 Jun 2022 // 15:00 UTC

Microsoft has dropped a preview of its next batch of Windows fixes, slipping a resolution for broken Wi-Fi hotspots in among the goodies.
The release – KB5014668 for Windows 11 – addresses the Wi-Fi hotpot functionality broken in June's patch Tuesday alongside some less necessary features like "search highlights," which "present notable and interesting moments of what's special about each day."
KB5014697, which was released on June 14 for Windows 11, had a selection of issues. Some .NET Framework 3.5 apps might fail and connecting to a Windows device acting as a hotspot wouldn't always work. The only fix was to roll back the patch or disable the Wi-Fi hotspot feature.

Continue reading
Inspur joins Arm gang with 2U box running Ampere silicon

Arm ecosystem elbowing its way into third largest server vendor in the world

Dan Robinson Fri 24 Jun 2022 // 14:15 UTC

China-based server maker Inspur has joined the Arm server ecosystem, unveiling a rackmount system using Arm-based chips.
It said it has achieved Arm SystemReady SR certification, a compliance scheme run by the chip designer and based on a set of hardware and firmware standards that are designed to give buyers confidence that operating systems and applications will work on Arm-based systems.
Inspur may not be a familiar name to many, but the company is a big supplier to the hyperscale and cloud companies, and was listed by IDC as the third largest server vendor in the world by market share as recently as last year.

Continue reading

ABOUT US

MORE CONTENT

SITUATION PUBLISHING

The Register - Independent news and views for the tech community. Part of Situation Publishing

SIGN UP TO OUR DAILY NEWSLETTER

Security Scorecard

Biting the hand that feeds IT © 1998–2022

Do not sell my personal information Cookies Privacy Ts&Cs