Could the best Halloween costumes be the ones made by fans of old-school games? From titles as ubiquitous as Tetris to obscurities like Day of the Tentacle, this list has it all. Just about the only one that's lacking here is Pong — although, dance too much in that nylon costume and you may well find yourself being batted away by anyone you get too close to.
Source: DVICE RSS Feed
Changes to the iTunes store’s terms and conditions have been spotted that mention a new version of Apple TV. Apple [AAPL] has not made it clear yet if the update is just to software or if a new version of the Apple TV may be coming soon.
“iTunes LP and iTunes Extras Products are usable only on computers with iTunes 9 or higher and Apple TV with software version 3.0 or higher.”
There are no details of when the 3.0 version is expected to launch but expect details soon.Source: Gadget Venue RSS Feed
Not sold by the original teaser trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar? The full length feature trailer, which has been playing on the big screen for the past week, has been getting a lot better response. This time around Fox was smart to concentrate more on the human/live-action hybrid portion of the story more before entering the world of the Na’vi and Pandora. The official high definition domestic trailer won’t hit the web until Thursday morning at 10:00am pacific time, but a properSource: SlashFilm RSS Feed
Hey, remember the Droid Eris? You know, that phone that’s launching the same day as the Droid, but isn’t getting as much attention? We may have some news that will certainly grab your attention.
Gdgt has a source on good authority that knows the Droid Eris will be available with contract for $99, compared to the $199 price point of the Droid.
This actually makes a lot of sense. For one, the Eris will be a hard sell if it’s offered at the same cost as its more popularSource: Unwired View RSS Feed
If you are a registered Adobe Solution Partner located in Europe, Middle East or Africa you should consider attending the Adobe EMEA Partner Summits scheduled in January 2010.
During one day you will get a complete update on the Adobe Strategy & Vision, Products & Solutions and the Adobe Solution Partner Program. In addition the day will be a great networking event with lots of other Adobe Partners and Adobe Senior Management.
Go here for more information and registration
A reader asked me on my final thoughts post about Widgets in Windows Phone 6.5, (thanks Steve). While I admit I had heard of them before I though it was only in a shell installed over Windows Mobile by an OEM. Well as usual I was wrong. Windows Phone does indeed have a Widget Engine installed. Click past the Break to see what the Windows Phone team has to say
(...) Read the rest of Windows Phone 6.5 and Widgets (Updated) (277 words)
If you like what you are reading, pleaseSource: Mobility Site RSS Feed
pureSilicon's original Renegade family just started shipping in Q1 of this year, but as it looks to stay one step ahead of the competition (and provide us all with a version big enough to hold all of our, um, family photos), the company is already introducing its Renegade R2 family. Designed to meet MIL-STD-810F standards while still offering 255MB/sec sequential read rates and 180MB/sec sequential write rates, these low-height (9.5 millimeter) 2.5-inch SSDs should fit perfectly within theSource: Engadget RSS Feed
If you think about it, you’ll probably only need to hang your flat panel TV on the wall once. Maybe twice. Maybe three times if you really move around a lot, like in the middle of the night when you hear a knock on your door and thank god you slept in your clothes because there’s only enough time to put on a pair of Velcro shoes and grab your 40-inch TV.
Basically what I’m saying is if you want your one-time TV hanging experience to be as smooth as possible or if you have a habitSource: CrunchGear RSS Feed
Need a digital photo frame? Need a printer? Need them to happen within the same enclosure? If you're one of the oddballs who curiously answered yes -- and you don't actually need it until after the holiday shopping season -- Sony's got you covered. The DPP-F700 digital picture frame with one-touch printing that we saw pop up internationally just last month has finally been blessed with a US ship date and price, and if you've paid any attention whatsoever to the headline, you're probably wellSource: Engadget RSS Feed
Section: Business News, Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones
Just as Apple prepares to introduce the iPhone in China, they were hit with a lawsuit from Nokia alleging patent infringement. The suit pits the world’s largest manufacturer of cellphones against the maker of the most popular smartphone in history. Nokia says Apple refused to enter into a licensing agreement, unlike the 40 other cellphone makers who use Nokia’s technology.
“By refusing to agree toSource: Gadgetell RSS Feed
Talk about biting someone else’s style. Not only is Microsoft trying to add some cool factor to its brand using celebrity influence, a game which Apple has long had in the bag, now it’s also opened its first official brick-and-mortar retail store, and it even just began offering PC hardware for sale via its online store. Next thing you know, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will be wearing black turtlenecks.
A revamp of the web site is part of the Windows 7 launchSource: The Apple Blog RSS Feed
Believe it or not, Panzer General: Allied Assault is a streamlined military strategy game, when you compare it to the long-running series of PC games it’s based on.
Battles between American forces and the Allies in this downloadable game for the Xbox 360 take place on a small, grid-based map. The original Panzer General game for the PC was on a hex battlefield, a key trait of super-serious military simulations.
But Allied Assault is a kinder, gentler approach to tactics, much Source: Game|Life RSS Feed
Its creator calls this a "groundbreaker" zombie, and since he obviously knows way more about Halloween gadgetry than I do, I should probably bow to his usage. But I have to say I feel like "groundbreaker" should be reserved for props that actually, you know, appear to break out of the ground.
Semantics aside, this animatronic zombie is so well done I was tempted, for a moment, to believe it was a fake--like, a person in a costume half-buried in a hole. Found it in this thread at HauntSource: MAKE: Blog RSS Feed
We told you it was coming, and now General Motors and OnStar report the first successful use of their Stolen Vehicle Slowdown technology to end a carjacking in California.
… [visit site to ]
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Officially announced in early September, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 has now hit the FCC (almost at the same time with the Samsung i5700) – although, we have to mention, the US version (Xperia X2a) is still not approved by the Federal Commission.
Anyway, the FCC has published an X2 User Guide, which teaches you how to switch between Xperia panels, use the 8.1MP autofocus camera, and other things like that. The User Guide can be seen here (PDF file).
Part of the new line up of Source: Unwired View RSS Feed
Major Nelson has shared with the internet the following facts: Army of Two, Midnight Club: LA and Sonic Unleashed are now available on Xbox Live Games on Demand. Army of Two and Midnight Club are available everywhere except Japan and North Korea, while the madness that is Sonic Unleashed is available worldwide. In North America, Army of Two is $19.99 and Midnight Club is $29.99. Sonic Unleashed will cost you $29.99 and the immediate forfeit of your immortal soul. Prices in other regions willSource: Xbox 360 Fanboy RSS Feed
One of my favorite applications for iPhone is Wunder Radio (iTunes / review) . In addition to receiving radio stations both locally and world wide, police scanners, weather radio and more – the iPhone application allows me to listen to Sirius Satellite radio while away from my desktop computer. I’ve been waiting eagerly for Wunder Radio to appear on the BlackBerry and today it’s available in the BlackBerry App World for $9.99. Unfortunately the version that’s available only works onSource: Gear Diary RSS Feed
The fun folks at Solid Alliance give us yet another opportunity for Halloween fun using technology with the release of the Crazy Earphones. The music player earbuds work as the perfect conversation piece giving you the appearance of having either bananas, sushi, cat paws, or metal bolts sticking out of your ears.
Sure it's a cheap gag, but this kind of stuff is why we proudly call ourselves geeks--it's the small details that count. You can pick up your Crazy Earphones for just 2,000Source: DVICE RSS Feed
While many kids virtual worlds have come and gone, Fantage has quietly built an audience of 3 million registered users. Today, it is formally launching its web site.
The company has managed to do what lots of other kids sites have failed to do: get an audience by offering fun games and social activities in a safe, parent-friendly setting. And they did so just by observing kids, building what they like, and starting over when things didn’t work, said Peter Bae, vice president ofSource: VentureBeat RSS Feed
As previously reported, Asus is preparing to launch a new version of its Atom-powered Eee PC T91 tablet, one that's equipped with Windows 7 and a multi-touch screen. Enter the T91MT, which is set to debut this Thursday, October 22nd, and feature Windows 7 Home Premium, a 8.9-inch (1024 x 600) multi-touch screen, as well as a 1.33 GHz Atom Z520 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD, and GMA 500 integrated graphics,.
The Eee PC T91MT is listed by Amazon(.de) priced @ 505 Euro / $755.
There are many businesses out there that would like to see their office rendered in 3D in Google Earth, but can't make it happen. Perhaps they don't have the time or talent to play with Google SketchUp, and Google's new Building Maker doesn't cover their area. What to do? There are a number of enterprising companies that are offering their services, and we thought we'd point a few of them out to you. These companies have all had their work featured on this blog in the past, and seem like goodSource: Google Earth Blog RSS Feed
You know what goes well with guns and gore? First aid kits. And thanks to the ThinkGeek folks, you can keep yours close. So close, in fact, that it’s two dimensional.
I’m pretty sure a picture of a first aid kit isn’t going to help you much, in the event of a real zombie apocalypse, though, so as cool as this t-shirt is, please, prepare accordingly. You never know when the hordes will rise up against the untainted! But in the meantime, you can use this shirt to weed out theSource: technabob RSS Feed
Windows: If you’ve installed older software in Windows 7, you might notice that .hlp-formatted Help files aren’t recognized or supported. Microsoft offers a free download to read and manage those WinHelp files.
Windows 7 come with their own Help and support systems, so this is just a compatibility update for anyone needing to look through older .hlp files on a newer Windows system. You’ll have to run a “Genuine Windows Advantage” check before you can download, but once that Source: TechBlogger RSS Feed
In an effort to keep lowering our continuously growing stack of Swag Saturday giveaway prizes, this week we're offering a seemingly random combination of Katamari Forever and Warhawk. Our reasoning seemed sound at the time: give the Joystiq BioMass[TM] something old and something new, nothing borrowed, and no one will be blue.
...
Okay, so we just wanted to give away a couple of PS3 games and those were the first two that we picked up. Are you happy? Are you?! Tell usSource: Houstonist RSS Feed
Google’s homepage has been showing off some rather clever effects over the last week.
For most you get the standard homepage, for others, you’ll see an empty page aside from the logo and giant search field. The moment you move the mouse, the rest of the page “fades into view”.
Commenters are reporting the effect seems to be happening randomly but if you’d like a more permanent fix, Google Blogoscoped has discovered a solution.
Type the following into the addressSource: The Next Web RSS Feed
Dr. Isis made the 10,000th comment here on Aard earlier today! Flatteringly, she said that I had made half the women on the Internet lose their shit. I simply know not my own strength.
It took two years and almost ten months to get to 10,000. As her prize, I hereby offer to call the good doctor trans-Atlantic at a time to be agreed on and sing her the Queen song (naturally) of her choice.
*howls* "I was just a skinny lad, never knew no good from bad, but I knew life before ISource: Thoughts from Kansas RSS Feed
A preference for open source is based on a simple, easy to understand premise.
An open source code base is your asset. A proprietary code base is someone else’s asset.
Just so long as you understand what “your” and “someone else’s” mean.
(You will recall this picture from Arian Young. I used it in February discussing mandates.)
Now it’s true that an open source asset is shared. But that’s why GPL code may be the best open source asset to have, ifSource: Open Source RSS Feed
Pro photographers will be lusting after the Nikon D3S, that is, unless they feel like shooting some video in 1080p. Nikon still lags behind its nemesis Canon in that department, rocking just 720p/24 video with this latest version of its full-frame digital SLR.
Never mind that, though — pro photographers don't care a whole lot about shooting video. One thing they do consider crucial is low-light performance, and this camera delivers, with a base ISO range from 200 to 12,800,Source: DVICE RSS Feed
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Desktops, OS, Software, Odds and ends, Apple, MacBook
Most electronics industry analysis is obvious at best and misinformed at worst, but this one made us chuckle. Analyst firm Broadpoint AmTech has released a report that claims that, rather than diminish sales of OS X, Microsoft's impending release of Windows 7 may actually help sell Macs. They cite the chart above, which seems to show a boost (especially after Vista) in Mac sales right afterSource: The Unofficial Apple Weblog RSS Feed
(Editor’s note: Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank is the author of Four Steps to the Epiphany. This column originally appeared on his blog.)
Some of the most important business lessons are learned in the most unlikely ways. At Ardent I learned many of them with a sharp smack on the side of the head from a brilliant, but abusive, boss. Not a process I recommend, but one in which the lessons stuck for a lifetime.
Ardent was my third technology company as a VP of MarketingSource: Venture Beat RSS Feed
The rush to deliver the web on the go has led Cisco to offer $2.9 billion for Starent, a telecommunications equipment company whose boxes help manage the different types of traffic traversing mobile and wired networks. The gear is especially important for mobile networks, as they handle more types of radio signals and where limited resources such as spectrum force operators to prioritize different types of IP traffic.
Starent’s boxes help carriers translate between their existingSource: GigaOM RSS Feed
Filed under: Tech Tips
One of the curses of HD DVRs is that, when recording HD video, they fill up terribly quickly. But, depending on your cable or satellite provider, and the model of box you have (check with your provider), you can quickly and cheaply upgrade your capacity. First, get hold of a completely empty SATA USB hard drive. Unplug the power cord of your set-top box, plug in the drive (the bigger the better), turn on the set-top box, and follow the onscreen directions toSource: Switched RSS Feed
It's Monday morning; some of us have spent the weekend partying, some of us have just been relaxing, but either way it's back to work! Going forward I'm going to try a bit of an experiment, using my Monday 9 AM spot not for a recap of the weekend news but to put forth what I hope will inspire some fun thought-provoking discussion around the topic du jour. I'm calling this Weekend Recovery, and you'll be able to jump into the discussion both here and on our GayGamer forums. * If you'd like toSource: GayGamer.net RSS Feed
When I was a kid, my brother and I climbed up on a ladder and pocked those glowing stars all over the ceiling in the room we shared. We thought we were cool, but inevitably, the sticky good that held them up failed and we often ended up with stars falling on our heads at night. Over at Instructables a guy has offered up instructions on how to turn your ceiling into your own star field, and it looks cool.
The installation seems to be time consuming, but really doesn’t appear to beSource: SlashGear RSS Feed
We've already heard first-hand how Yamaha can make surround sound emerge from a single soundbar, and now the outfit's wowing again here at CEATEC. It's latest aural innovation was tucked quietly away within its booth, disguised as an advertorial for the show itself. Essentially, the banner you're peering at above is a one millimeter thick speaker that's made from cloth, and it definitely has the potential to revolution billboards and possibly even portable media devices. As you can clearlySource: Engadget RSS Feed
When Canada’s Silverorange started developing ClusterShot, a web site through which people can upload and sell their photos online, in May of 2008, it was nothing more than a side project members of the 14-person web development firm worked on in the evenings and on weekends. Today the service consumes up to 25 percent of Silverorange’s development time and is profitable.
ClusterShot earns revenue from selling annual Pro subscriptions, which cost $20 and provide users with theirSource: GigaOM Network RSS Feed
Tapulous took the App Store by storm with its inaugural Tap Tap Revenge rhythm music gaming title. It followed that up with the no less successful Tap Tap Revenge 2, Tap Tap Dance, and various Tap Tap games branded for individual artists. Tap Tap Revenge 3 (iTunes link) hit the App Store today, bringing with it new features and some unique iPhone 3.0 capabilities.
The official page for the app just went live over at Tapulous’s site. The app is the first in the revenge Source: GigaOM Network RSS Feed
Remember the Dell Mini 3i, Dell’s China-only Android phone? Well it’s not China-only anymore.
Rumor has it that Dell will bring the Mini 3i to the U.S. in the next few months to compete with other Android phones coming down the pike from HTC, Samsung, and Motorola.
The phone, presumably still in its Chinese trade dress, felt “cheap and plasticky, like the Pre,” according our tipster. He believes it will be upgraded for the American market.
The phone hasSource: CrunchGear RSS Feed
Nearly exactly a month after launch Google has announced more cool themes for Chrome. This release is based upon prominent artists which include Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, Karim Rashid, Jonathan Adler, Oscar de la Renta, Anita Kunz, Tom Sachs, Kate Spade, Donna Karan, Kid Robot, Casey Reas, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Graves, Todd Oldham, Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Mariah Carey (and that’s just to name a few!).
For a behind-the-scenes look at one illustrator’s uniqueSource: Crenk.com RSS Feed
Just a quick post to remind you guys that you can still send in pictures of your computer setup for this week’s geeky pics post. And don’t forget, the coolest looking setup and the messiest one (as determined by us!) will both get $20 via Paypal!
[Picture source: Flickr (CC)]
Related posts:
This entry is part 9 of 9 in the series GearGames Weekly
Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! After last week’s PSP Go launch, this week is filled with games, games, and more games! Among the big releases are Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes for every current platform, the long awaited Demon’s Souls for the PS3. But the one that will likely leave echoes across the entire holiday season – Wii Fit Plus.
… [visit siteSource: Gear Diary RSS Feed
Next Saturday sees a first in UK broadcasting - for the first time ever (in recent memory anyway) no TV station will be showing a competitive England football match, so it will only be streamed online.
Setanta originally had the rights, but they collapsed earlier this year, and once England qualified no other broadcaster was willing to pay.
The match is pay per view, with an 'Early Bird' rate of £4.99 if you pay now, rising to £11.99 on the day of the match. HoweverSource: Digital Examples RSS Feed
Ah, Snow Leopard. It's the same cat you're used to caressing (or beating, as the case may be), but in a much, much colder climate. Or something like that. OS X 10.6 promised Leopard users a "refined" experience, and one that would only cost upgrading users $29. At that price, most Apple fanatics figured that picking it up on launch day was a no-brainer, but as we've come to sadly expect from Cupertino's software labs these days, all wasn't perfectly well with the big snowy cat. EvenSource: Engadget RSS Feed
Yay
