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Two well-known Web sites have completed implementations of MySpace’s data portability program, which has also been modified to allow a degree of user data caching and storage by external Web sites and to support the OpenID single sign-on method, MySpace announced Monday.

The moves represent the latest enhancements to the MySpace Data Availability Initiative, launched in May with big-name partners Yahoo, eBay, Twitter and fellow News Corp. unit Photobucket, and opened broadly to any Web site last month.

With this program, MySpace wants to let its members take their public profile data to other Web sites, so that they don’t have to re-enter that information manually multiple times. MySpace’s Data Availability Initiative is one of several projects from vendors and industry groups that seek to make data portability a reality for end users, Web application developers and site publishers.

The goal: to automate and give end users control over the process of entering and updating social profile information and content like biographical facts, personal interest lists, friend contacts, photos, videos, text comments and so on.

For now, the MySpace effort is designed to let its members carry to other sites their public basic profile information, like their bios, interests, favorite music and movies, as well as their photos and videos. Changes made to these elements on their MySpace profiles will be dynamically updated on the third-party sites.

Users will also be able to decide to drop a site from their network of updates, which is key to privacy and security principles. MySpace members have a control panel to manage their “data availability” parameters. Eventually, MySpace would like to extend the effort to allow members to bring in data and content that they have entered into other sites, making the exchange bidirectional.

In the meantime, with the new OpenID support announced Monday, MySpace will let its members create a unique URL with which they can log into sites that support this open digital identity framework. That way, members will not have to remember log in information for every site they register on.

In addition, while the founding partners are still working on their implementations, Flixster and Eventful have become the two largest sites to go live with the MySpace initiative. At Flixster and Eventful, MySpace members will be able to automatically replicate and synchronize their profile information and find MySpace friends.

MySpace is also easing restrictions on caching and storage of member data by participating sites. Previously, MySpace didn’t allow any local caching or storage of data by these sites, but now has relaxed that position in a way the company feels doesn’t compromise member privacy and security, said Jim Benedetto, MySpace’s senior vice president of technology, in an interview.

Now, sites will be able to cache MySpace members’ data for a 24-hour period, because forcing these sites to continually retrieve data from MySpace servers was proving technically unfeasible, especially for smaller sites, Benedetto said.

In addition, if MySpace members sever the data-sharing link with a third-party site, the members will now get the option to leave a subset of their profile data on that site, as opposed to completely erasing their data from it. This change addresses scenarios where a MySpace member may want to remove a site from the data availability program but not necessarily drop their registration on that site altogether, Benedetto said.

This technical and policy change reflects the reality that while few argue against the data portability concept, its implementation is far from easy, as it involves many complicated technical, legal, regulatory, privacy and security challenges. As MySpace and others push forward with their efforts, it’s generally agreed that achieving full, industry-wide data portability will take a long time to materialize.

Story From: PCWorld.com

The Big Three

As is the case every year, the major focus was on the “big three” console makers – Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo – to see who could hold the most inspiring and entertaining press conferences, and come out with the biggest announcements.

NZGamer.com was live-blogging all the events: here are the Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo conferences.

In general, gamers seemed to be most impressed with Microsoft’s showing. They closed with the announcement that Final Fantasy XIII would be hitting the Xbox 360 at the same time as on the PlayStation 3 – a huge coup, considering the main series has been Sony-exclusive for over a decade.

Other games were also impressive: they are hoping to tap into the popular SingStar market with their own karaoke game called Lips; keep hardcore gamers happy with anticipated titles such as Fable 2 and Gears of War 2; and broaden their market with Viva Pinata 2 and the new Banjo Kazooie game.

COMING SOON: Final Fantasy XIII will be released
on the Xbox 360 at the same time as on the
PlayStation 3, a coup for Microsoft.

Sony had fewer exciting announcements, but did show off a number of promising titles. Little Big Planet, a highly original – and cute – game that allows players to create their own levels and play in them with their friends, is still highly anticipated. Resistance 2, promised some intense action, as did its younger sibling on the PlayStation Portable, Resistance: Retribution.

Some impressive video rental and purchasing features were shown off, but unless you live in America, don’t expect to see it any time soon – New Zealand won’t be high on the list to get downloadable movies via the PS3 or Xbox 360 for a long time yet.

But at least everyone can look forward to God of War III and MAG, an online shooter game that puts you in a battlefield with 256 other players.

Nintendo once again went along with their own thing, making it clearer than ever that they are moving along a completely different trajectory to Sony and Microsoft. There were brief glimpses of ‘hardcore’ games, such as a Grand Theft Auto title for the DS, but they spent nearly all their time talking up a small number of games aimed at the casual market.

Of these, the most interesting were Wii Music and Wii Sports Resort. The latter comes with a new add-on for the Wii remote that gives it a greater degree of accuracy, and the bundled software lets you try it out in sports such as jet skiing and fencing. Wii Music, on the other hand, allows you to simulate up to 60 instruments on the Wii remote and jam with your friends. It looks like a great title for kids and their parents to get into, although there are few solid details on how it’ll play at the moment.

HOT TITLES

As well as the big three, almost every major publisher came to the party to show off their upcoming games. Here are the ones we’re looking forward to the most:

Rock Band 2 looked even better than its predecessor – not that we’ve had a chance to officially play the original, as it has yet to even be released in New Zealand! Perhaps the sequel will end up coming out at the same time?

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe pits the stars of the violent MK series against the likes of Batman and Superman in this strange cross-over fighting title.

Sonic Unleashed promises to take the speedy blue hedgehog away from mediocrity – but will Sega be shooting themselves in the foot once again with the new gameplay ‘twist’?

For those who like to scare themselves, Resident Evil 5 looks to keep up the standards set by its predecessors.

And for those of you who’ve had enough of The Sims, keep on an eye on SimAnimals, which lets you take control of bears, squirrels and much more!

Story from: Stuff.co.nz