Single Line Of HTML Code Crashes IE6

A Japanese blogger who goes by the name Hamachiya2 has discovered a single line of HTML and CSS that crashes IE 6. The line is:

<style>*{position:relative}</style><table><input></table>

If you’re brave, you can copy that line of code in Notepad and save the document as an .htm file. Then open it in IE using the File > Open option.  The code is rendered correctly in Firefox, Safari and Opera (didn’t get a chance to try any other browsers, but presumably they work too). But in IE 6 it raises a fatal error in mshtml.dll.

iPhone Display at a AT&T Store Reboots, Runs Win XP

An iPhone display at a AT&T store reboots and is running Windows XP instead of Mac OS. Pretty funny after all the Mac fans were picking on Microsoft on how the Zune commercial was made on a Mac, and how “all media types and artists” use Macs…BLAH BLAH BLAH!

Microsoft Xbox 360 Sales Plunge 60% As Problems Mount

A couple of weeks after Microsofts announcement to spend $1 Billion to fix defective XBox 360s, the sales of new 360 units have drastically declined.

Microsoft said it shipped 700,000 Xbox 360 units in its latest fiscal quarter, compared to 1.8 million in the same quarter in 2006.
Microsoft’s growing troubles with the Xbox 360 video game console appear to be catching up to the company. Sales of the gaming machine plunged 60% in the fiscal fourth quarter, Microsoft disclosed Thursday.

In its earnings statement for the quarter, Microsoft said it shipped 700,000 Xbox 360 units during the period, compared to 1.8 million in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2006 — a fall off of 61%.

Microsoft’s Xbox operations are housed within the company’s Entertainment and Devices Division. The group saw fourth quarter revenue drop 10% year-over-year to $1.16 billion on an operating loss of $1.20 billion. The group lost $423 million the previous year.

Microsoft blamed the 183% increase in the EDD operating loss on a $1.06 billion charge against earnings that the company incurred to cover the cost of extending the warranty period for the Xbox 360 to three years. The move came following Microsoft’s recent admission that the gaming system was suffering from an “unacceptable” number of general hardware failures. Microsoft has also been hit with two class action lawsuits in the past two weeks claiming that a design flaw in the Xbox 360 causes the system to irreparably scratch game discs. Microsoft has denied the claim.

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that Xbox chief Peter Moore was leaving the company “for personal reasons.” It was later disclosed that he had jumped ship to video game publisher Electronic Arts.

In the meantime, rivals Sony and Nintendo have been stepping up competitive efforts. Sony recently announced a $100 price cut on certain PlayStation 3 units while Nintendo continues to enjoy robust sales of its new Wii system.

Microsoft introduced the Xbox 360 in November 2005. It has since shipped 11.6 million of the consoles. The company is doubtless looking forward to the holiday 2007 season and hoping that new game releases like Halo 3 revive the Xbox 360’s flagging fortunes. Microsoft on Thursday said overall profits in the fourth quarter increased 7% to $3 billion, while revenue increased 13% to $13.4 billion.

Sony PS3: $100 Price Drop Confirmed!

What a great July we’ve been having in the video game console world! Microsoft commits $1 billion to fix its ailing Xbox 360 (see my article on this here) and now: confirmed reports this morning that the Playstation 3 is finally getting a $100.00 USD price cut this Thursday, July 12 2007. That date also coincides (I’m guessing not coincidentally) with the E3 Media & Business Summit, which runs July 11-13 in Santa Monica.

This price drop will put the price at $499 rather than the $599 the 60GB version sells for currently. Hoping to mitigate its losses, Sony will introduce another unit for the less price-conscious. That PS3, which will start selling for $599 in August, increases the hard-drive size from 60GB to 80GB and includes the game MotorStorm released earlier this year.

Meantime, the company is showing it is willing to stomach further losses in its gaming business and, in particular, the PS3, which includes a high-end Blu-ray DVD player, wireless Internet access, and a powerful custom processor, to keep wavering developers from jumping to those rival systems. “This is good for everybody — but, potentially, our competitors,” Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, says of the cut.

While widely expected to happen sometime before the important holiday shopping season, the announcement was nonetheless surprising after a top company official in Japan on July 6 denied a price cut was in the offing. Sony has been reluctant to reduce the price too quickly in part to avoid appearing desperate this early after the introduction of a console.

I purchased my PS3 on June 14th for full price from Walmart. I wonder if they will do a price adjustment for me as I come in under the 30 days?! Lets keep the fingers crossed…$100 is a $100!

Microsoft to Spend $1 Billion to Fix Defective Xbox 360s

Is your Xbox 360 defective? Are you getting the 3 red lights – “ring of death”? Does your 360 freeze all the time? If so, and your console is still under warranty, you might be in luck! Microsoft has finally come out and has agreed to fix defective Xbox 360s.

Friday, July 06, 2007
Associated Press

SEATTLE — In another setback for Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) unprofitable entertainment and devices division, the company says it is planning to spend at least $1 billion to repair serious problems with its Xbox 360 video game console.

Microsoft declined to detail the problems that have caused an onslaught of “general hardware failures” in recent months but said Thursday it will extend the warranty on the consoles to three years.

The glitches, and the bad publicity, could weigh the company down as it claws for market share in the highly competitive console market.

In May, the Xbox 360 ranked No. 2 in unit sales behind Nintendo’s Wii, but still beat out Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 3, according to data from NPD Group.

“We don’t think we’ve been getting the job done,” said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, which also makes the Zune digital music player, a distant competitor to Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) powerhouse iPod. “In the past few months, we have been having to make Xbox 360 console repairs at a rate too high for our liking.”