The Inquisitr » Technology

AT&T To Get Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, Hopefully Cheaper Than “Unlocked” Pricing.

James Allen Johnson — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:48:14 +0000

If you search the web right now for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, you’ll quickly find prices up to $999 for an unlocked version of the Smartphone, plus an “unknown release date” tagging along on those product pages, however if you don’t mind waiting past the initial unlocked date, you may find the device at much cheaper AT&T contract pricing.

A recent rumor at Engadget is leading us to believe that AT&T will pick up the North American version of the device upon it’s release and will offer 3G data support in the U.S.

The device is expected to ship with two flavors, an international version and a North American version. The AT&T model would offer the following calling bands: 800/850/1900/2100mhz.

Unfortunately if the phone is anything like the Xperia X1 it may not be worth its weight in contract negotiated pricing. Stay Tuned for more info as it arrives…

eBay Search Down

Duncan Riley — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:10:44 +0000

Troubled online auction giant eBay can add a new problem to their ongoing issues today (Nov 21) with eBay search going completely down for all users.

The issue, as the name suggests, results in eBay search not working by simply failing to deliver any results from the search box.

A notice to the eBay systems announcement page said that “due to errors in some of our backend systems, members may be seeing different errors in Search. This could be that “We were unable to run the search results you entered. Please try again in a few minutes” or a blank page, or simply the browser being unable to display the page.”

The message from eBay, which finishes by saying “Please note that we are working as quickly as possible to get this resolved” was posted at 1:37pm PST, where as we’re both writing this post, and seeing eBay search not working at 4:05pm PST, so 2 1/2 hours later.

We’ll update the post if we hear more. General auctions on eBay seem to be unaffected, although obviously there’s no way to search for specific auctions.

Black Friday: Wal-Mart carrying awesome game console deals

Chris Greenhough — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:19:33 +0000

If you’re a gamer, you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to Black Friday bargain hunting, with neat deals at Sears and GameStop, and some okay deals at Toys ‘R’ Us.

If you’re a gamer looking to pick up a cheap console next Friday, there’s only one winner: Wal-Mart. The store will be selling PS3 Slims with an excellent pair of titles – inFamous and Batman: Arkham Asylum – and The Dark Knight on Blu-ray for $299. That’s what the PS3 Slim alone would normally cost: this one comes with about 100 hours of entertainment.

Their Wii and Xbox 360 deals aren’t too shabby, either. $249 bags you a Wii with two games and an extra set of Nyko controllers, while $199 buys you an Xbox 360 Arcade with Madagascar 2 and the first two Madagascar movies on DVD.

Oh yeah, and you can pick up a Nintendo DS Lite for $98 (and the ace Lock’s Quest for $7 to play on it). Everybody should own a DS of some description. It’s the law. Here’s the list in full:

Xbox 360

- 2K Sports NBA 2K10 – $25
- Command And Conquer Red Alert 3 – $7
- Grand Theft Auto IV – $10
- Midnight Club Los Angeles – $10
- Rock Band Special Edition – $50
- UFC 2009 Undisputed – $25
- Xbox 360 Arcade with Madagascar 2 game and Madagascar/Madagascar 2 DVDs – $199

PS3

- Need For Speed Undercover – $10
- Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare – $25
- Rock Band Special Edition – $50
- The Godfather II – $10
- WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2009 – $25
- PlayStation 3 Slim with Infamous, Batman Arkham Asylum, and Dark Knight on Blu-ray – $299

Wii

- Bakugan – $25
- Big Beach Sports – $10
- Carnival Games – $10
- Celebrity Sports Showdown – $7
- Tak And The Guardians Of Gross – $7
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – $25
- Nintendo Wii with 2 Games and extra set of Nyko controllers (Online Only) – $249

Nintendo DS

- Lock’s Quest – $7
- MX Vs ATV Untamed – $10
- NeoPets Puzzle Adventure – $7
- Nintendo DS Lite Starter Kit – $10
- Nintendo DS Lite – $98

PS2

- Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader – $7
- Madden 10 – $25
- Suzuki TT Super Bikes – $7

PC/Mac

The Sims 3 – $25

Miscellaneous

- X Rocker Turbo Sound Gaming Chair – $35

[BlackFriday.info, via Destructoid]

Apparently Apple is voiding warranties of smoker’s computers

Steven Hodson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:15:30 +0000

Now just to clarify right off the top – there is no official word out about whether or not Apple is voiding the warranties of computers owned by smokers but if the news as being reported by the Technically Incorrect even approaches fact then Apple has definitely crossed a line.

Chris Matyszczyk tells of two separate people who have taken their machines in to an apple store in the case of Derek in Des Moines and an authorized Apple repair center in the case of Ruth. In both instances they were informed by staff that there would be no work done on the machines because they had come from homes where some-one was smoking and this voided the computer’s warranty.

One, named Derek, recounts the tale of his overheating black MacBook. He took it into the Apple store in Jordan Creek, West Des Moines.

He told The Consumerist: “Today, April, 28, 2008, the Apple store called and informed me that due to the computer having been used in a house where there was smoking, that has voided the warranty and they refuse to work on the machine, due to ‘health risks of secondhand smoke’.”

[...]

Then along came Ruth, who took her son’s iMac to an authorized repair center. After five days, they apparently told her they couldn’t work on it because it was contaminated with cigarette smoke and was therefore a bio-hazard.

When Ruth appealed to Jobs’ office, she said she was told by someone named Dena that nicotine was on OSHA’s list of hazardous substances.

Source: cnet News – Technically Incorrect

Now given that Ruth actually got someone in Apple itself to say this and confirm that the warranty was indeed void shows that even if the practice isn’t an official policy it sure seems to be a condoned one.

If this is indeed the case then I’m sorry but Apple is putting its nose in where it doesn’t belong and this is flat out wrong.

[image courtesy of anythingbutipod.com]

Google Chrome OS – the morning after still has people not getting it

Steven Hodson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:27:10 +0000

If there is one thing about the tech blogosphere it is its predictability. Just as you could predict the almost breathless press that surround Google’s announcement that yes they were working on an operating system, yes they were going to open source it (in other words free), and yes everyone can now get excited but you’ll have to wait until next year when you buy a netbook to use the real thing.

There’s gotcha number one – while you can download it (see Kim’s post of where to grab a copy) it isn’t going to be the real thing because the real thing is only going to be installed on the netbooks of those hardware companies that meet Google’s standards.

But just as you can predict the positive spin that comes with just about every Google release you can predict just as well the next day’s rapid back-peddling as the early rush of kool-aid begins to leave everyone’s system. In this regard we definitely weren’t let down in the slightest even though there were a few that seem to have grabbed themselves a whole new serving.

Those still thinking that this is the game changer, or at least close to it, that we’ve been waiting for:

Google Chrome (or something like it) Will Take Over…Bet On It! – TomsTechBlog

Chrome isn’t about next year or even the year after that. No one in their right mind would bet on netbooks as the future of humanity. But it is about Google showing the world a new way of computing and earning the world’s trust.

The Chrome OS Release Is Not About Now, It’s About Next. – Louis Gray

Google’s preview of the Chrome OS was more than a product release. It was a milestone in a vision of a Web-centric world, one in which we are increasingly living. For the vast majority of my own activity, I am online, not using software. I intentionally use some applications, like Microsoft’s Office suite or Adobe Photoshop, quickly, and then close them just as quickly, as to not slow down my computer’s performance. Google’s Chrome OS is the latest development in a vision that says our activity will be online, our data will be stored in the cloud, and applications that have traditionally been desktop software will make their way online.

Why Google Chrome OS has already won – Robert Scoble

Today InfoWorld’s Randall Kennedy says that Google’s Chrome OS will fail.

What he is missing is he’s looking at the wrong field.

Google is playing a different game. Google Chrome OS is NOT about killing Microsoft or Apple.

What is it about? Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers.

See, what happens if the world goes to Microsoft’s Silverlight, the way that Seesmic did this week? Google is locked out of such a world.

Google is in a war over developers with Microsoft. Google wants developers to build for the open web. Microsoft wants developers to build for Silverlight. Those messages are VERY clear coming out of both camps now.

Chrome OS, Google Intends to Destroy the Desktop and Microsoft – Mashable

Here’s the thing: Microsoft is well aware of the Google Revenue Equation. It also knows that Chrome OS and its price point (free) aren’t in its best interests. Thus, Microsoft won’t play to Google’s game, leaving Google with only option: to destroy or fundamentally alter Windows. This is equivalent to gutting Microsoft and leaving it to wither away into oblivion.

Google is setting the stage for is biggest battle with Microsoft yet. The result of its Chrome OS bet will directly affect the fate of computing, the operating system, and the web.

Those that are either back-peddling or are busy writing epitaphs of failure

Why Chrome OS will fail — big time – InfoWorld / Cloud Computing

The Chrome OS is here — sort of. This week, Google was kind of enough to give the world a sneak peek at its nascent desktop operating system. And after months of speculation (and more than a few bogus screenshot galleries), I can finally say that I’ve seen the future … and it’s not Chrome OS.

Google Chrome OS: I Don’t Get It – webomatica

And we had to make do with web apps. I wouldn’t buy such a thing, not after getting used to the Swiss-army wonderment of the iPhone.

As far as I’m concerned, the Google Chrome OS seems limiting at best, and at worst, pointless. I don’t get it.

Was Chrome OS a Disappointment? – ReadWriteWeb

At the end of the day, Chrome OS is an exciting, but not fully realized, vision. Although it has potential, the world may not be ready for a web-based netbook right now. Also, the technology needed to make the Wi-Fi only netbook useful without an internet connection isn’t up to full speed either. At the end of the day, the netbook will be marginally more useful than an iPod Touch – when connected, it’s amazing. Offline, not so much.

A short post on the conceit at the heart of Google ChromeOS – Technovia

That’s why Google ChromeOS, which says “do everything in the web”, is so weak. Of course, there’s good reasons why Google wants you to use web interfaces for everything (MOAR EYEBALLS! MOAR ADS!) but there aren’t really good reasons for customers to want to do it.

ChromeOS Will Fail, Unless Its Purpose Is Not To Succeed – Regular Geek

The second reason, which many blogs have not stated, is that everyone knows this will fail.

ChromeOS will fail because the timing is not right. If mobile phones were still those nasty little devices that made even checking email a chore, it would have a chance.

Those who see the glimmer or at least honest enough to sit on the fence

As much as I might yank Scoble’s chain on this over his blanket statement he also sees where the real play for ChromeOS is.

Why Google Chrome OS has already won – Robert Scoble

Well, it’s a new field altogether. I’m hearing a raft of new, low-cost, devices are coming that you will only need to have on the Web. For instance, I want a cookbook on my kitchen counter that just brings me cool recipes. Right now I use my big Windows 7 computer for that, or my big MacBookPro.

But what if there were a new device that costs less than $100 that JUST does cookbooks and other things I need in the kitchen? I would buy one. A Chrome OS is all that’s needed for such a specialized device.

4 Big Gambles Google Is Taking With Chrome OS – GigaOM

There are quite a few misconceptions going around about the new operating system, among them that it’s aimed squarely at Microsoft’s operating system hegemony. It’s not. Chrome OS is targeting netbooks, not desktop and server systems.

158,616,176 Reasons Why Google Chrome OS Won’t Fail – SiliconAngle

That leaves 158,616,176 potential users for a Google product that could effectively be the cheapest computer ever mass produced.

Cheap. We’re talking theoretically $150, which incidentally is cheaper than what you can buy the famed “$100 Laptop” for.

You’re telling me that Google and their partner vendors don’t have an incentive to move 158,616,176 $150 machines? In case you’re really bad at math, that could theoretically be a $23 billion market. And that wouldn’t include one single Microsoft or Apple customer, nor does it touch the dollar figure that Google makes from selling ads against those people’s time online.

End game

As Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins and I went back an forth on this in a podcast last night the thought came to me that as he points out in his post ChromeOS + Netbooks + Broadband = the cheapest possible computers we have ever seen. Take that one step further and given Google’s penchant for giving things away it is entirely possible that they could partner with all the broadband providers and give away ChromeOS equipped netbooks and just in time for the 2010 holiday season.

That could possibly result in the largest influx of people to the Internet we have even seen in the Web’s short history.

[VIDEO] New Moon parodied in Sims 3 trailer

Chris Greenhough — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:18:39 +0000

Twilight and The Sims: two franchises that drive the tweens wild, so what better way to promote one by parodying the other? That’s what EA did to spread word about World Adventures, a brand new expansion for The Sims 3. In the trailer you see below, you can gawk in wonderment at the following:

- Edward and Jacob SNOGGING!
- More dudes with SHIRTS OFF!
- MORE LIPSTICK!
- !!!!!

Bravo, EA. Actually, this looks infinitely better than the film. Yeah, I went there.

[YouTube]

HP Mini 110 Arrives At AT&T, Gets Subsidized, Offers Same Specs As Verizon Model

James Allen Johnson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:57:51 +0000

Verizon Wireless is October added the HP Mini 110 netbook to their lineup of offered devices and proceeded to subsidize the device to any data seeking users who came their way. Now AT&T is following suit, offering the same exact Netbook with built in AT&T 3G data connectivity, opposed to Verizon EV-DO service.

The netbook arrives on November 22nd for a price of $199 after a mail-in-rebate, 2 year contract and minimum monthly data plans.

The Mini 110 features Windows 7, a 10.1 inch LED backlit display with anti-glare and 1GB RAM, plus the already mentioned 3G service and a 160GB hard drive. Everything is pretty standardk netboo fare right down to the Intel Atom processor.

You’ll need to sign up for at least an AT&T DataConnect plan which provides 200MB of data per month for $35 or you can grab their $60 plan that provides 5GB monthly transfer rates.

Then again you could just go drop $300 on a decent netbook with the same or even better pricing and specs over Black Friday and not have to worry about shoddy 3G service you’ll experience in many 3G areas or for that matter a 2 year contract.

OMG Stop the Web! Twitter is gonna run ads – and Scoble says you’ll love it

Steven Hodson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:01:39 +0000

Hang on a sec and let me check out the window and see if the world is still spinning….

Yup at least that is still normal but in the world of social media everybody’s darling let it out today at yet some other silly conference that they will be rolling out an advertising format that will just amaze everyone over its incredibleness.

Well if you listen to Robert Scoble this is the impression you’ll get; but c’mon this is a guy that cried at seeing the World Wide Telescope.

This is a huge shift in what Twitter is saying publicly.

But advertising isn’t something many people love. So, how will Twitter make advertising you love?

By building a SuperTweet!

Wow, a SuperTweet – someone pass me a tissue quick, I think I’m going to lose it.

Seriously though it is about time that Twitter did something that would come even close to justifying the billion dollar valuation that the company has gotten the last time they went back to the VC teat. All this means is that suddenly we are going to get tweets loaded down with a whole bunch of metadata crap and links attached to what we have written – so really who’s going to care?

Thought so.

Chrome OS available as VMWare download

Kim LaCapria — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:20:14 +0000

Google had an event yesterday to give us deets on the upcoming Google Chrome OS, and Steven told you a bit about it here.

If you are, as Steven said, swimming in the “ocean of Google kool-aid” and you’ve got to take the OS for a spin ahead of the 2010 release, with a little elbow grease and some downloading, you can get an idea of what’s under the hood. A torrent is available on The Pirate Bay, and GDGT has set up a bit of a one stop shop for all your Chrome OS under the tree box-shaking needs. (GDGT has options for running it with VMWare, Virtual Box or a USB stick.)

I’ve not had a chance to give it a go, but Engadget was on it, offering some first impressions of Chrome OS. Indeed, as Google trumpets in the video below, the speed the Chrome browser is known for seems to be the first point of woot- reported time from boot to login is about ten seconds. Apps like GCal and GMail were reported to be “choppy,” but that could be down to the relative youth of the project.

Check out the video below for a peek if you’re not enterprising enough to test run it, but if you do, let us know in the comments.

GameStop Black Friday Ad Offers A Little Bit Of Everything

James Allen Johnson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:43:58 +0000

The Gamestop Black Friday Ad has officially been spotted and as expected just about every gaming system offered by the company is on sale, as are a ton of video games, memory cards and even some peripherals.

Here are some of the deals that stand out to me:

Gaming Consoles

Nintendo DSi Limited Edition Mario Bundle – $169.99
Nintendo Wii Console – $199.99
Ps2 Gaming Console $99.99 (Perfect for all those PS2 games you have sitting around collecting dust).
PS2 Pre-owned Console – $39.99
PS3 120GB Holiday Bundle with 3 Games – $299.99
PSP Assassin’s Creed Bloodline Bundle – $199.99
Xbox 360 Elite Holiday Bundle with 3 Games – $299.99
Xbox 360 Arcade Console – $199.99

There are some other systems, but those are my top picks for the best options on Black Friday.

Video Games

Need for Speed Shift (Xbox 360) – $39.99
Mario Kart (Wii) – $49.99
Guitar Hero 5 (PS3) – $39.99
Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360) – $19.99
Fallout 3 (Xbox 360) – $49.99
Beatles Rockband (Xbox 360) – $49.99
Assassin’s Creed II (Xbox 360) – $59.99

Again, there are many other games available I just really had my eye on a few games I failed to pick up this year and most of them are on this list, others I have but thought our readers would enjoy.

Memory Cards

Sandisk Memory Stick Pro Duo 2GB (PSP) – $14.00
SanDisk Memory Stick Pro Duo 4GB (PSP) – $19.99
SanDisk Wii/DSi 2GB SD Card (Wii) – $7.49
SanDisk Wii/DSi 4GB SDHC Card (Wii) – $14.99

It’s about time memory cards came down in price, seeing them at $50 a piece just a year ago when wholesale was around $30 was driving me crazy.

Peripherals

DS Duo Game Case & Stylus – $4.99

PS3 DualShock 3 Wireless Controller – $54.99
PS3 Energizer Controller Charger – $19.99
PSP Road Gear Kit – $9.99
Wii Energizer Power & Play Station – $19.99
Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board – $99.99
Xbox 360 Energizer Controller Charger – $19.99

There are a few other peripherals as well for decent prices.

All in all it’s not a bad Black Friday for GameStop, but they do have some very tough competition from Amazon, WalMart and other electronics selling competitors who are battling to get buyers in their doors on Black Friday 2009.

Cisco iPhone App Can Check Website Reputations On The Fly

James Allen Johnson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:19:34 +0000

The newest iPhone App from Cisco is perfect for internet security experts looking to protect their devices and ultimately the personal and business information of their companies employees. The program provides users with internet traffic and e-mail monitoring alerts and even allows IP addresses to be entered for specific websites and servers so users can check the site or servers “reputation.” Those risks are determined base on various factors including traffic volume and location.

The program probably won’t do standard users all that much good, Cisco is aiming the program at IT managers and security experts and is providing SIO TO Go abilities which provides various security news feeds, a Cisco Risk Report, access to the companies security blog, Twitter feeds and other information that may be of use when determining company protocols and blacklisting certain locations.

To gather information the program uses Cisco’s own email monitoring technology, while also access popular information gather options include the WhoIs directory for determining where a site is located, what type of traffic it gets and any reports of malware and other potentially harmful software the sites and server may be distributing.

The program is free to use and is rather intuitive for first time users with simple entry forms and excellent data output. [iPodNN]

PogoPlug Gets Updated With Four USB Ports, New Integration Features

James Allen Johnson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:05:25 +0000

The PogoPlug is one of the best plug and play NAS solutions available on the market, it’s simple to use, offers a nice clean and sleek design and users have been flocking to the devices over the last several months. Now the team at PogoPlug have announced some nice new improvements to their gadget.

The PogoPlug now comes with four USB ports, offers a global search for all drives attached to the PogoPlug, includes an address book features and offers a bunch of other integration features for organizing multimedia along with other options.

The MSRP is $129.00 and various retailers carry the PogoPlug line.

Here’s the press release for the newly updated units:

Second Generation Pogoplug™ Unveiled Today

Next-generation Hardware Design and Software Provide Enhanced Storage, Multimedia and Social Media Capabilities

San Francisco, Calif. – November 20, 2009 – Cloud Engines, Inc. unveiled the second generation of the award winning Pogoplug multimedia sharing device today giving consumers more flexibility to store personal content safely in the home and access, manage, and share it from anywhere on the Internet. The new Pogoplug hardware sports a new design boasting multiple USB ports supporting up to 4 external drives for expanded data capacity. The new Pogoplug also gives users improved sharing capabilities, an easy drag-and-drop interface to create engaging multi-media slide shows, seamless media playback, and enhanced sharing with friends on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Pogoplug acts like a gateway from your home or office through the Internet. It allows you to access, share and even stream your personal digital media directly to anybody, anywhere in the world. Your content always remains physically in your home or office, making it secure, convenient and available on your terms. Pogoplug is perfect for those individuals with increasingly mobile lifestyles and small businesses in need of simple, inexpensive mobile data access solutions.

“The reaction to the Pogoplug has been incredible. By listening to user feedback and following our own product roadmap, we are bringing a great second-generation product that gives our customers access to a host of new features that both improve the function of the Pogoplug, and add to the fun of using it as well.” said Daniel Putterman, CEO of Cloud Engines, Inc. “We are committed to giving our customers the best way to access their data from anywhere in the world, pushing the envelope with both product quality and design aesthetic. The result is what you see here today.”

NEW HARDWARE
The new Pogoplug design retains the simplicity and ease of use of the original while listening to consumer feedback and adding the ability to directly connect up to 4 external hard drives at once. The resulting product boasts an improved design with greatly improved functionality for users with multiple drives and an increasing need for easy synching and sharing of their digital libraries. This upgrade turns the Pogoplug into an even more prominent feature in the modern digital home or small business.

NEW FEATURES
Automatically Synchronize Photos, Videos, Music and Other Selected Content
Users can synchronize their Pogoplug with their PC or Mac to automatically import new content from popular applications such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, and iPhoto. This feature allows Pogoplug owners to “set it and forget it” and always have access to new photos, videos and music from anywhere on the Internet.

Drag-and-Drop Music and Photo Slideshows
Users can easily create and share fun and engaging slideshows using their stored photos, videos and music. Creating a slideshow with Pogoplug is as simple as drag and drop, and sharing these slideshows is just as easy as ever. Once a user’s link is shared and viewed, their slideshow will immediately begin with the photos, videos and music they selected, playing seamlessly in the viewer’s browser.

Easier Sharing with Pogoplug Address Book
Pogoplug Address Book greatly improves the speed and ease of use of sharing with a user’s friends and family. Pogoplug automatically remembers all email addresses entered in a user’s previous shares – even if that share no longer exists – and makes them available in an easy to use address book to make sharing truly one click away.

Global Search Across Multiple Drives and Pogoplugs
With support for multiple drives on a single Pogoplug (and multiple Pogoplugs on the same account) Pogoplug has added “global” search support across all of a user’s Pogoplugs and drives. Search filters are now a distinct feature, allowing users to view all of their photos, videos and music in a single organized view, or to search for a specific file across all Pogoplugs and drives.

Organize Your Music, Photos and Videos
Pogoplug automatically displays music by Album, Artist and Genre, and shows cover art for quick access to a user’s favorite music. Photos are now displayed by photo timeline and videos are only a click away, including the ability to watch a preview in the thumbnail itself.

Play movies directly from my.pogoplug.com, or even to the iPhone
Pogoplug now supports the playback of videos directly from a Pogoplug, with support for the most popular cameras, video cameras and mobile phones. Movies can be shared and viewed directly from the Pogoplug website – or even from an iPhone!

Pricing and Availability
We are currently taking Pre-Orders for Pogoplug at www.pogoplug.com Units will ship before the end of the year – just in time for the Holiday Season. The Pogoplug has a suggested retail price of $129, with no additional service fees.

Blackberry Pearl 9100 “Striker” Gets Some Photos, Still Waiting On Specs

James Allen Johnson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:49:34 +0000

The Blackberry Pearl 9100 has been spotted in the wild and adds some nice new design features to the Blackberry Pearl line of Smartphones. code-named Striker, the phone has been redesigned with a new SureType keyboard and an optical joystick for a whole new look and feel.

There’s still no word on the devices main features and although we can see that it has a camera, we don’t know what it offers, although an LED flash does appear to be included. We’d expect at least a 3.2mp camera, fairly standard fare on Research In Motion devices at this time, but we’d gladly take a 5.0 option with obstacle zoom if RIM could be so kind.

There’s still no word on pricing or availability, heck at this point I’d be willing to settle for some specs. [CrackBerry]

Kmart Black Friday Sales 2009

Duncan Riley — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:01:58 +0000

Kmart are out with their Black Friday sales for 2009 and like its competitors, televisions are a popular selling point.

Kmart Black Friday sale 2009 is offerung a 32” Sony Bravia L Series 32″ 720p LCD HDTV for $379, an Element 26″ LCD HDTV for $249.99 and a Panasonic 42″ 720 Plasma TV for $549.99.

If you’re looking for something to connect to your new TV, Kmart is offering a Magnavox DVD Player w/VCR – $49.99, Memorex 1080P HDMI Upconvert DVD Player – $29.99
and a Sylvania 7 Inch Portable DVD Player – $49.99.

In cameras, Kmart has the Kodak CD80 Digital Camera Bundle – $79.99, the Samsung SL40 Digitial Camera – $79.99 and the Sony W180 Digital Camera – $99.99.

For the car, Kmarts Black Friday sale ad is offering the Magellan Roadmate 1220 GPS Navigation System – $84.99, the TomTom ONE 130 GPS – $79.99, and the TomTom XL325S GPS Navigation System – $99.99.

In gaming, Kmart is offering the XBox 360 Elite Bundle w/Halo 3 OSDT for $299.99, and a range of discount games including Brutal Legend, Dirt 2, Dragon Age, Halo 3 OSDT and Left 4 Dead 2 for $39.99.

iPodRip Gets Direct Response From Steve Jobs, Immediately Changes Name

James Allen Johnson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:49:32 +0000

John Devor, co-owner of the Apple software company “The Little App Factory” received an email from Apple Lawyers telling him to change the name of his iPodRip program or face trademark infringement over the iPod name. In response to that letter Mr. Devor sent a message directly to Steve Jobs pleading his case.

Here’s Johns letter to Jobs and the response he received back:

Dear Mr. Jobs,

My name is John Devor and I’m the co-owner of a small Mac shareware company named The Little App Factory and a long-term Apple customer and shareholder. I doubt you’re aware but we recently received a letter from a law firm working on Apple’s behalf instructing us that we had violated several of Apple’s trademarks in our application iPodRip and asking us to cease using the name and Apple trademarks in our icons.

We have been distributing iPodRip since 2003 with the aim of providing a method to recover music, movies and photos from iPods and iPhones in the event of a serious hardware failure on their Mac which leads to data loss. Our goal has been to provide the highest quality product coupled with the highest quality service in a bid to resolve some of the angst that is generated by such an ordeal; service befitting of an Apple product. In this department we think we have succeeded as we have approximately 6 million customers, many Apple employees, music artists and other notable people in society. In fact I’d argue that our customer service is the best of all competing applications in our niche as many of them are scams and frauds that leave Apple customers with a terrible taste in their collective mouths. We fear very much that tens of thousands of Apple customers looking to recover their own music and having heard of our product via word-of-mouth or otherwise, will instead find a product produced by one of our competitors, and will wind up the victim of a scam (one closely-named competitor charges a hidden monthly fee, for instance).

It is quite obvious that we mean Apple no harm with the use of the name iPodRip, or of the inclusion of trademarked items in our icons, and in fact I believe that we have been providing an excellent secondary service to Apple customers that has potentially caused you many repeat clients. In fact, we are quite aware that Apple support and store staff have recommended our software on numerous occasions as far back as 2004 so we have felt that we were doing something right!

With this in mind, we are in desperate need of some assistance and we beseech you to help us to protect our product and our shareware company, both of which we have put thousands upon thousands of hours of work into. Our company goal is to create Mac software of the highest quality with the best user experience possible. I myself dropped out of school recently to pursue a path in the Mac software industry, and you yourself have been a consistent inspiration for me.

If there is anything at all you can do with regards to this matter, we would be most grateful.

Best,

John Devor

After receiving the letter here’s the response Steve Jobs sent back to Denver:

Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

The App is now called iRip, just don’t read too much into the tone of Jobs response, his point was clear, concise and simple. [Gizmodo]

Only nine years late: PlayStation 2 launches in Brazil

Chris Greenhough — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:11:46 +0000

Firstly, I must apologise, for I’m a day late with this story. Then again, my tardiness pales when stood next to that of Sony. The company launched its PS2 console in Japan, North America, and Europe in 2000, and brought the console to Brazil … uh, yesterday. Sucks to be Brazil.

Brazilian gamers wanting a slice of the hot 32-bit action can expect to pay out R$799 for a console, or around USD$465. The system is set to launch with 14 games, including such cutting-edge gems as Gran Turismo 4 and God of War II.

To put that R$799 price tag in perspective, a non-specialized worker who works 50 hours a week will make around R$500 – R$1500 a month in São Paulo, the priciest city in the country.

Game piracy is big in Brazil – now, can anyone guess why?

[Gizmodo Brazil, via Kotaku]

Kid rings police after parents confiscate Xbox

Chris Greenhough — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:25 +0000

True (and depressing) story: some little sod from Illinois has called 911 on his parents after they punished him by taking away his Xbox 360. Ugh.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the boy hung up before the emergency call was complete, so officers were sent to the address in case something of actual importance was happening. It probably didn’t look like the scene above. I hope it didn’t look like the scene above.

After the cops arrived, El Brat asked an officer whether his parents had the right to swipe his precious Xbox. The cop replied that yes, they do, and advised him to listen more to his parents.

They then drove off, their time thoroughly wasted by this little ingrate. Hopefully a slipper is connecting with his ass right … about … now.

[The Chicago Tribune, via GamePolitics]

Dell Studio 17 Gets Purchase Page, Multi-Touch, Configurable Options

James Allen Johnson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:44:04 +0000

The Dell Studio 17 was upgraded today by Dell with a new multi-touch surface that outputs 1,600 x 900 pixels of resolution, features a Pentium Dual Core or Core 2 Duo processor and can hold up to 8GB of RAM.

The notebook also features up to 1TB storage and the option for integrated Intel graphics or an ATI GPU. Users can also thrown in a Blu-Ray (at an additional cost), along with several other basic configurable options from the Dell website.

A basic unit sells for $899 with prices moving quickly upward from that point if you throw in Blu-Ray, more memory and other add-ons. You can order now and you’re unit should ship by December 4th, just in time for the Christmas shopping season. [Engadget]

Google Chrome OS – so is it worth all the fuss? (Round-up)

Steven Hodson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:54:10 +0000

Anyone who has been on Twitter for the past couple of hours will have notice the over abundance of messages about Google’s Chrome OS announcement today. Then the deluge of posts started showing up letting us know all about the details on how in Google’s words “a new model of computing” was happening; or at least would be happening in a year from now when they actually ship web-browser operating system.

Interestingly enough much of the shot across the bow’s of Microsoft and Apple rhetoric has subsided as the ocean of Google kool-aid recedes from the minds of many tech bloggers. I guess that happens though when you suddenly find your fodder for future pageview inducing posts over a war that will never happen go poof in the night. That said the big news out of today’s announcement was that the ChromeOS is that you have no control over your computer other than to browse, write a few documents, play web-based games and even then it has to pass through the Chrome OS guardhouse to get approval to play.

I just finished a discussion with my good friend Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins who seems to think that this is a play for the low-income bracket who can’t afford fancy things like laptops or desktops.

Here’s the Whoop-Dee-Doo: There are 30% of north americans unable to get online because they can’t afford a full fledged computing device.
This is a play for them.
This could, potentially, replace the need for a mobile phone and a desktop device for them.
Potentially.
At the very least replace the need for a full fledged system.

All well and nice but if you are that low income that you have to hook yourself up with a sub-par netbook for under $200 as Mark suggests what makes you think these same people are going to be able to afford the ever increasing broadband access fees that are being charged.

As idyllic and Utopian as this idea of free operating system … err browsing experience for everyone might be I find it interesting that at a time when the iPhone is the big news and the average price of a smartphone – not counting the cost of the data plans needed – is around the $200 – $300 Google decides to go this route. After all combine a netbook and Google Voice with a bluetooth headset and viola you have a smartphone, and then some.

You have to give Google credit though – it’s a hell of a way to increase their advertising network which is how they make the largest portion of t heir money. But as a great leap forward for our computer experience – or a new model as they call it well I only have this to say

Chrome OS Round-up

Here’s a bunch of the posts that I followed today in trying to keep up with the Google hype machine.

ReadWriteWeb: Live Blog: The Google Chrome OS Press Event
Google Blog: Releasing the Chromium OS open source project
DownloadSquad: Google ChromeOS: It’s basically a modified browser that runs web apps
DVICE: Google Chrome OS revealed, won’t be ready for a year
SiliconAngle: Chrome OS Isn’t an Anti-Microsoft, Anti-Apple Play [Gratuitous Backpatting]
The Next Web: Chrome OS Still A Year Away – Screenshots and First Information
VentureBeat: Google aims to release Chrome OS for netbooks by holiday season 2010
GigaOM: Chrome OS Unveiled, Focused on Netbooks, the Cloud

Microsoft could face legal action over mass Xbox 360 bannings

Chris Greenhough — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:55:22 +0000

Last week, Microsoft started rocking its banhammer in a big way, permanently banning 1 million Xbox Live users from the online gaming service for playing on a modded Xbox 360. But was Microsoft’s choice to ban 5% of the Xbox Live community a bit too conveniently timed?

Boutique law firm AbingtonIP thinks so, and argues that the timing of the bannings – which took place shortly before the launch of Modern Warfare 2 – was deliberate. By cutting users off just before the year’s biggest game arrived, AbingtonIP claims that Microsoft netted a ton of money from potential Xbox Live subscribers, before banning their modded consoles.

Of course, by the letter of the law, Microsoft would seem to be in the right – modding your console does violate the Xbox Live Terms of Service. Yet banning so many users when it did could land Microsoft in trouble for what Joystiq legal columnist Mark Methenitis calls a “deceptive business practice concern.”

AbingtonIP is currently investigating the case before it considers bringing a class action lawsuit to obtain a refund for the sums of money left on the banned Xbox Live subscriptions.

[Via Joystiq]