Roaming Fees May Apply...

I'm Not Here Anymore

2009-04-21T11:53:00.001-04:00

Hey. Some people still come across this blog when searching for me. Unfortunately, I haven't posted here in quite some time and this content is a bit old.If you want to find out what I'm up to, check out the following:Info about me: whois.chadstoller.comSort of blog: www.chadstoller.comTwitter: www.twitter.com/cstollerFlickr: www.flickr.com/cstollerSee you there!

Where are the posts?

2006-12-13T10:35:00.000-05:00

you can now find my postings over at threeminds

Microsoft execs slam Sony Blu-Ray strategy

2006-05-31T12:56:00.000-04:00

The war of words between bitter rivals Microsoft and Sony has intensified, with top Xbox Europe execs launching an astonishing attack on the Japanese firm's decision to include its next-generation DVD technology in PlayStation 3 as standard.read more | digg story

Nintendo launches casual games sub-brand for DS

2006-05-30T13:55:00.000-04:00

Nintendo has announced a new sub-brand for its DS games that is aimed to appeal to casual games. The "touch generation" lineup of games will applied to non-twitch and "pickup and play" type games. This announcement is hot on the heels of the very successful "Brain Age" launch in April of this year.

OLPC working prototypes demonstrated..

2006-05-23T22:58:00.000-04:00

1st working model (OLPC) Originally uploaded by Pete Barr-Watson. Check out this Flickr gallery of working OLPC prototypes. There's some more information at Engadget as well.

Xbox 360 Hack - claim

2006-05-17T10:17:00.000-04:00

I suppose it didn't take too long for someone to figure out how to get "back-up"/bootleg discs to run on the Xbox 360 and bypass the security and authentication process at boot.This process is similar to the process identified earlier this year for modifying the original Xbox's DVD drive which involved overwriting the drive's firmware with a "built in" security check from an existing Xbox game.

DVR service without the DVR

2006-05-17T10:10:00.000-04:00

Time Warner is quietly rolling out a new feature on its digital cable service for home subscribers called "Start Over" which allows subscribers to restart, rewind, and pause television programming.The service doesn't support on-demand programming as this feature is intended to be used with live programming, but its interesting to see DVR hardware based services placed on the network side of the

When flash mobs go right..

2006-05-16T21:53:00.000-04:00

Flash mob stories tend to always end with a bit of chaos in order to get some quick and random attention. Here's an interesting story about a group of New Yorkers who got together and posed as Best Buy employees and invaded the Chelsea Best Buy store on 23rd street. The mob integrated the store and helped customers find their goods before they were evicted from the store.

Opera browser on the Nintendo DS

2006-05-15T14:17:00.000-04:00

Although there isn't a formal release date for the United States or Japan, the Opera web browser for Nintendo DS project is moving along quite smoothly. It appears that handwriting recognition will be a big part of the browsing experience in addition to a tapable keyboard.Here are some screenshots of the upcoming release. In addition, it appears that the Nintendo/Opera relationship is going

Halo 3 trailer..

2006-05-10T13:06:00.000-04:00

The Halo 3 trailer was dropped on Xbox Live yesterday, but here it is in full YouTube glory.

Warner Bros. to sell films via BitTorrent

2006-05-09T10:58:00.000-04:00

It looks like Warner Bros is going to beat Apple to the punch and partner with BitTorrent to deliver movies and television shows directly to user desktops.Rumors began swiriling last week that Apple was in talks with BitTorrent to possibly integrate BitTorrent P2P technology into future versions of iTunes (in order to speed up downloads of feature film content) and even possibly into Leopard for

Super secret xbox portable - rumor #48921?

2006-05-09T00:27:00.000-04:00

In regards to the Microsoft topic that can't seem to go away, new allegagtions made by Dean Takahashi, author of the newly released "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked", claim that the 360 product team was divided into two groups once the system launched last November.One group was assigned to focus on lowering the production costs of the 360, while the other was assigned to the secret development of a

MS confirms HD-DVD support

2006-05-09T00:23:00.000-04:00

Microsoft has confirmed support for next generation optical video discs with an optional external hd-dvd drive.The drive will connect to the Xbox 360's USB 2.0 port and take advantage of the 360's component video outputs to make a 720p/1080i video connection to a HD display. A launch date for the "accessory" was not announced, however, MS could "officially" announce the drive during today's (

The real ps3 controller

2006-05-08T23:58:00.000-04:00

It's official, Sony has ditched the "boomerang" prototype controller for the PS3 which was revealed during last year's E3.The new controller keeps the familiar design language of the PSX family of controllers but loses the cords. Its a wireless (via bluetooth) controller that also includes motion sensors for three dimensional control.This leaves Microsoft as the only manufacturer without a motion

Kotaku: E306: Sony Playstation Presser Liveblog

2006-05-08T23:49:00.000-04:00

Here's the scoop on the PS3 announcements including the not-so-shocking, but now because its-real-shocking prices of $499 and $599 for the PS3.Kotaku has the full scoop.

Price drop after first month of Moviebeam

2006-05-05T18:21:00.000-04:00

Moviebeam, the Disney owned VOD service, has already dropped its price and its initiation fee after its first month of availability. Often described as a "home solution to Blockbuster," Moviebeam promises on-demand movies which are delivered to your box over un-used HD bandwidth.Customers pay a per-movie fee.

Yahoo! GO & Other PVR news

2006-05-05T18:16:00.000-04:00

Earlier this month, Yahoo! threw its hat into the PC based PVR software ring with the release of Yahoo! Go. Yahoo! is looking to offer customers an alternative to the media functionality offered by default with Windows XP Media Center Edition. This new software release follows Yahoo's recent acquisition of meedio. Zatz Not funny has a review.In other PVR news, Tivo has finally launched Tivo

The Urban Videogame Academy

2006-05-04T21:54:00.000-04:00

In another story about the narrowing of the digital divide, Next Generationreports about the Urban Video Game Academy, an organization focused on promoting game design to inner-city and economicallly disadvantaged students.Recently the UVGA held sessions at the University of Baltimore.More about the academy can be found here.

I blog, you blog, and now your xbox 360 can blog too..

2006-05-04T17:24:00.000-04:00

We are in the era of thinking machines. There was Big Blue who could play chess and some of you have Roombas and Scoobas to clean your home. Well, I'm taking it to the next level and I'm going to allow my Xbox 360 to blog about my activity.360 voice.com keeps tabs on your Xbox 360 activity and posts it to a blog hosted on its site. It will detail your activity for everyone to see, and to take it

Voce - peasants need not apply..

2006-05-04T15:50:00.000-04:00

Are you a mobile baller? a total playa who enjoys the finer things in life? if so, rid yourself of the commoners and get with the latest mvno to launch this year.Voce is for those who enjoy the finer life of mobility. For a $1,000 initiation fee, you can roll on the GSM based (it rides on Cingular) MVNO and get access to special edition phones such as a custom Motorola RAZR or a Nokia 8801.In

Nokia shipes e61 - Blackberry playa'

2006-05-04T13:06:00.000-04:00

In the latest attempt of a phone manufacturer trying to take on marketshare for portable push email devics, Nokia has shipped the e61 after missing the originally intended date of mid-march of this year.The e61 is loaded with features push email and other typical smartphone type services.In addition, The Register reports that Nokia has cut a deal with iPass to offer wi-fi roaming. A symbian

Nintendo DS Lite - US Availability announced

2006-05-04T12:52:00.000-04:00

Nintendo announced the upcoming availability of the svelt DS Lite for the US today.It will be priced at $130 and available on June 11. At launch, only one color will be available which will be the "polar white" aka "ipod white"

new logitech quickcam - demo video

2006-05-04T12:13:00.000-04:00

Logitech has launched their new Orbit Quickcam which is loaded with video effects and other features.Here is a quick video put together by a new owner which showcases some of its features.

Silent recall on MacBook Pro batteries

2006-05-04T00:07:00.000-04:00

Early MacBook Pro batteries are being recalled. Apparently this recall is limited to the first 2 weeks of machine quantities.read more

Trippy ajax (right click) search added to Wall Street Journal website

2006-05-04T00:05:00.000-04:00

Try going to any article at wsj.com, selecting a word, and then right clicking (or ctrl-clicking on a mac). Pretty remarkable feature, especially for a mainstream news site.read more | digg story

Massachusetts wants MySpace to raise minimum age to 18

2006-05-04T00:03:00.000-04:00

Massachusetts called on popular teen social networking Web site MySpace.com to strengthen protection of children against sexual predators, including raising the minimum age for users to 18 from 14.read more | digg story

Wal-Mart to sell 'build-your-own' computers

2006-05-04T00:02:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will start selling build-your-own-computer components in more than one-third of its U.S. discount stores this month as it looks for ways to tempt shoppers to buy more than just low-margin food.read more | digg story

ABC launches Lost ARG?

2006-05-03T23:55:00.000-04:00

Rumors are swirling about a possible ARG based on ABC's "Lost" universe, and the rumors got a lot closer to reality last night as ABC ran a fictitious television spot for the Hanso Foundation and encouraged users to call 877-hans-org for more information.A call to the IVR system prompts people to go to the Hanso Foundation web site where users are encouraged to interact to discover more about

When Fanboys Get Excited

2006-05-03T12:09:00.000-04:00

What do you get when you announce a product name change before the world's largest video game trade show? You get fanboys excited and they get to work with their home made commercials and marketing materials. Here's the latest Nintendo Wii (formerly "Revolution") home brew commercial.

Send a Text to an Xbox

2006-05-03T10:23:00.000-04:00

Xbox.com has a new service that allows gamers to send messages to their friends via their xbox. Gamers simply choose recipients from their friends list, type a message, and then its off to the recipient's xbox.Is this a channel for one to one communication or an open gateway for brands to speak to gamers while they play?

Say Hi to Helio

2006-05-02T15:39:00.000-04:00

Its up, and its running. Helio, the latest MVNO in the US market is up and running and taking orders for their sh*t hot phones.Helio is going for the "baller" angle and is hoping to lure saavy, gadget oriented, data service obsessed, young adults to their calling plan with super sexy phones that they import and reskin from Pantech. Basically, if you are the "phone guy" in your peer circle, they

Cooking with your DS

2006-04-26T21:07:00.000-04:00

05.03.06 - Update - This game will come to the US market under the name of "Cooking Mama" and will be published my Majesco. It will be available for preview at e3.The serious games continue to roll out of the market in Japan and it seems like the Nintendo DS is the platform of choice. Why? Well, where else can you use a touch screen and microphone on a portable platform - especially when it

Game Advertising Facing Possible Review in the UK

2006-04-22T11:59:00.000-04:00

While using pre-rendered cgi graphics is nothing new in game related advertising, it looks like the UK's "Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre" is interested in reviewing how the use of pre-rendered video is misleading customers. Apparently, the MCV: TV ad 'lies' face ban">Advertising Standards Authority received a few complaints about Activision's "Call of Duty 2" title as customer's were

Sony Blu-ray Player Available for Pre-Order

2006-04-21T23:18:00.000-04:00

When it rains, it pours, or at least thats what its seems like today with all of the breaking news about hd-dvd availability and panasonic basically saying no way, again, to an alliance to end the format feud.Today, Sony announced, through its Sony Style web site, that its first Blu-ray player is available for pre-order. Weighing in at $999.95, the unit will ship in August 2006.

What's up next for J.J.? Star Trek!

2006-04-21T10:18:00.000-04:00

It looks like Paramount is going to go for the jugular and bring in J.J. Abrams to resurrect the Star Trek film franchise. According to TrekToday.com, Abrams will co-write and direct a feature film that will focus on the early Starfleet Academy days of Kirk, Spock, and others.The article mentions that there is no official word from Paramount on the fate of Rick Berman who has headed Star Trek

Brain Age released - Metareviews are building up

2006-04-21T10:04:00.000-04:00

This week marked the first release in the highly anticipated "Brain Age" Nintendo DS franchise and the reviews are building and its current Metascore is currently at 76 with players giving it an 8 out of 10.For those not aware of this hit within the exploding vertical segment of adult oriented games, Brain Age has been a huge hit in Japan and has been credited with increasing the popularity of

Report: HD-DVD to outsell Blu-Ray 2.5:1

2006-04-21T09:59:00.000-04:00

The Register reports on a study performed by ABI research which forecasts a 2.1 - 1 ratio between HD-DVD units versus Blu-Ray units.The reason for the lead? The lower price of HD-DVD players and the 2-4 month lead time that Toshiba will hold over the Sony and Samsung Blu-Ray units as Toshiba's initial line of HD-DVD players are already in the marketplace and available to consumers. The article

Firefox turns to its fans...

2006-04-14T20:04:00.000-04:00

If you can't outspend them, outsmart them. Mozilla has asked their fans to express themselves and support the opensource movement by posting their handmade short films to a Firefox Flicks" web site.Viewers are treated to short films about the benefits of Firefox told in unique ways from a fanboy's perspective. Messages about Firefox's security benefits and ease of use features are communicated in

Apple to bring back colorful enclosures?

2006-04-13T11:31:00.000-04:00

Rumors are flying that the new line of iBooks, which will be called, Mac Books (sans the "Pro" suffix) will come in different colors when they are announced next monday.read more | digg story

How YouTube Became Hot Property In Online Video

2006-04-13T11:29:00.000-04:00

An article on the birth of youtube.com. If i only had a garage..read more | digg story

Leaked pics of Sony PSP Electronic Distribution?

2006-04-06T12:33:00.000-04:00

PSP Updates has some leaked pictures of the supposed PSP electornic distribution system (which was announced during last month's Game Developers Conference). These photos shows classic PS1 games available for download and emulation on the PSP. The site also suggests that these games will go for $15 apiece and will be stored on the PSP's removable memory stick.

Hey! Its crazy frog..

2006-04-05T15:13:00.000-04:00

100_2321 Originally uploaded by Rafat Ali. And he's rollin' at CTIA in Las Vegas. No word as to how he got there and if he flew commercial all the way over to Nevada from the UK.

The Nokia Platform

2006-04-05T14:43:00.000-04:00

CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment Conference 2005 Originally uploaded by GISuser.com. Ok, here it is, its quite simple:Series 40 - For you mass market types. take pictures, send text messages, talk also!Series 60 - Smartphone features. Jave and C++ applications and mass stoarge capabilitySeries 80 - Java, C++, enterprise apps and a Symbian OSGot it. Good. Now come the flood of phones that

its ctia week

2006-04-05T13:42:00.000-04:00

blounge (16) Originally uploaded by BritBeat. tons of wireless news should be flowing this week as the world's finest mobile handset manufacturers and network operators convene in lovely, yet dreadful, las vegas to hype their wares, applications, services, and handsets.hey look, its the pebl in beautiful colors. nice phone, too bad its a nightmare to operate.

apple introduces boot camp

2006-04-05T13:09:00.000-04:00

Apple has spent considerable time and effort to lure "switchers" over to the ease and efficiency of the Mac OS, but now it seems they may be encouraging a new type of switch. Today apple has announced "Boot Camp" as a public beta for their new line of Intel macs. The installation of Boot Camp will allow Intel Macintosh owners to easily boot into Windows and eliminate the hassles of the homebrew

ps3 pricing - $612 to $734 - updated!

2006-04-05T12:49:00.000-04:00

Updated! 4/6/06Sony has stepped in to settle the confusion by not saying anything! next generation reports on the announcement and "clarification" by sony europe. Here is a quote from the article:"At no point did he ever refer to a specific price for [the PS3]. He was referring to a 500 dollar price that the interviewer had questioned to him, explaining the relative value of the PS3 console in

Great Street Wars video

2006-04-05T10:28:00.000-04:00

here is a great video covering how the real world game, street wars, is played.it looks like a lot of fun, but its no pac-manhattan.

No Rare Titles Available on Revolution Network

2006-03-27T17:44:00.000-05:00

Microsoft has announced that titles developed by its wholly owned studio "Rare Entertainment" for the Nintendo 64 (and other Nintendo platforms) will be made available on demand for download. This means that some of the greatest titles ever made for the N64 (including Goldeneye) will not be available for instant download and enjoyment.Update: According to Joystiq, all Nintendo IP which is owned

Has Apple Run Out of Terrestrial Customers?

2006-03-27T17:41:00.000-05:00

Apple may be looking elsewhere for customers with low iPod awareness.According to rumors and speculation, Apple is close to completing a monstrous sized ipod in the fields of Austrailia. The ipod will be visible from space and it can currently be viewed on Google Maps. According to the story, Steve Jobs won the land from the now deceased Kerry Packer, in a poker game. If you really get into the

Aha! Here's how Sony is going to clean up with the PS3

2006-03-27T15:15:00.000-05:00

DSCF3645 Originally uploaded by sgda. Here's a photo from a sneaky individual who managed to takes some pictures during last week's Phil Harrison (Sony keynote at the Game Developers Conference.The chart illustrates the many ways in which the PS3 will earn revenue for the Sony mothership. Note the inclusion of in-game advertsing..will this be via third party or will all advertisers work

MMO on the go!

2006-03-24T23:14:00.000-05:00

Here's a recent announcement from "Big World Mobile" about their development of a middleware platform which will allow MMORPG developers to integrate mobile devices into their MMORPG play experience.Now all of those guild masters can keep on eye on their guild while their on their way to their posh new job in middle management!

Say "so long" to the PsOne

2006-03-24T23:03:00.000-05:00

Sony announced yesterday that they are ceasing production of the PS One (aka the original "Sony PlayStation").'Tis a sad day for this system which is now over 11 years old. It seems like just the other day we were all enjoying PaRappa The Rappa, Twisted Metal and Road Rash.

BBG - Bathroom Based Gaming?

2006-03-24T10:46:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting take on re-thinking the male urination experience. Desiner Marcel Neundorfer has developed a urine controlled video game that is placed in mens room urinals. As the "players" urinates, he (i don't see a female version immediately available) targets specific points on a touch sensitive display which controls movement on another display located directly above the urinal.This

Recruiting Guild Masters For Management Positions

2006-03-24T10:37:00.000-05:00

Continuing recent conversations about the explosion of virtual world themes integrating into real life situations, Wired has an interesting story about companies recruiting World of Warcraft players, specifically guild masters, for management positionsTo run a large one, a guild master must be adept at many skills: attracting, evaluating, and recruiting new members; creating apprenticeship

Web2MemeMap

2006-03-23T12:41:00.000-05:00

Web2MemeMap Originally uploaded by Tim O'Reilly. I'm posting this map as i'm often asked about the theories that shape the web 2.0 philosophy.I always like to describe the 2.0 theory as "the web done" correctly..as in the "user is first." As you can see from this map, its really about the user's data being put before a brand and the abililty to let people share and then activate this data

Estimating Revolution and PS3 console availability at Gamestop

2006-03-22T10:29:00.000-05:00

Enough with early boasts about PS3 console availability plans, Wedbush Morgan Securities went directly to Gamestop and got someone over there to talk about their inventory expectations for the (soon to be named) Nintendo Revolution and the Sony PS3.According to their sources, Gamestop is expected to received 750,000 Revolutions and 1.2 million PS3 units (keep in mind that Nintendo has yet to

Mobile content should be used to reduce subscriber churn

2006-03-22T10:16:00.000-05:00

An article in today's register, reports that mobile customers in the UK don't want to pay for mobile content. Citing a recent survey performed by consulting group KPMG, mobile customers will use the premium content services, but they aren't interested in paying a premium.While this isn't necessarily new news, but the article does endorse that premium content should be used to reduce subscriber

xbox shipments to increase 2-3x ASAP

2006-03-21T12:42:00.000-05:00

Microsoft is on the move. Looking to make a move during the upcoming GDC conference this week (considering their news isn't as anticipated as Sony's or Nintendo's), MS announced that retail shipments of Xbox 360s will increase 2-3X as early as this week.In addition, MS has announced that over 10 million content downloads have been served over the Xbox Live network. That's a fair amount of extra

Xbox handheld is real..or "real-er then before?"

2006-03-20T13:36:00.000-05:00

It appears as if Microsoft is really going through with the creation of a handheld game device to compete in the world of portable media players and game machines - and as we now know, it isnt the origami project. According to Dean Takahashi (author of "Inside the X-Box"), MS has put J. Allard in command and he has assembled his strike force to bring a device to market by 2007.GDC is shaping up

Ballmer on PS3 delay

2006-03-20T09:53:00.000-05:00

Steve Ballmer sounds very calm and in control after hearing of the official PS3 delay. Its nice to know that Steve wants everyone who wants an Xbox, to have one. That's so sweet. Thanks Steve.

Alpha release of Firefox 2.0 is posted

2006-03-20T09:45:00.000-05:00

Early adopters rejoice as the first alpha release of Firefox is here.Web reports claim that that the build is far from stable, but it should be good enough to check out some of the performance enhancements. Early Mac users are claiming a nice increase in speed.

XP Now on Macbook Pro

2006-03-20T09:40:00.000-05:00

It has been done. Earlier last week someone was able to load os x on a an Intel iMac and now someone has taken it to the next level and determined the process required to boot XP on an Intel powered MacBook Pro.

Video emerges of proported Xbox 360 hack

2006-03-19T12:15:00.000-05:00

This is a video of the speculated Xbox 360 hack that will allow users to play Xbox 360 backup games.

xbox 360 soft mod? has it been cracked?

2006-03-17T07:57:00.000-05:00

A hardware hacker going by the name of "TheSpecialist" has apparently found a backdoor to the Xbox 360 that will fool the system into booting up with a backup 360 disc.His claim is based on observations that he has made of the system's internal debug system. If he is correct, this will be the first crack of the drm fortress that the 360 is, and to make matters even more interesting, it will be a

All of the Brew Ha Ha from the PSP (PlayStation Press Conference)

2006-03-16T09:32:00.000-05:00

Without having to get to deep into the matter, Next Generation has provided the best simple summary of the announcemens from the March 15th "State of the Playstation" conference.1. Kutaragi stated that Sony expects to sell to manufacture 6 million PlayStation 3 units by the end of fiscal 2006, ending March 31, 2007. That's less than 6 months after launch.2. As reported, the PSP will soon support

PS3 is looking more and more delayed..

2006-03-14T16:48:00.000-05:00

Although we are hours away from Sony's upcoming press announcement, stories are flooding in across the RSS feeds about a delay of the PS3's release day to November 2006 for Japan.It looks like the delay is directly related to the unresolved issue of copy protection methods by the blu-ray consortium.

Tivo Series3 by september?

2006-03-14T16:45:00.000-05:00

Engadget is speculating that the Tivo Series 3 recorder (HD capable) will be made available sometime in the 4th quarter, possibly as early as September.It looks like the cat is out of the bag based on a Tivo sponsored contest for American Idol where the grand prizes is a Series3 DVR with lifetime service. The total value of the Series3 plus lifetime service (which, by the way, was eliminated

Motorola recalls RAZR

2006-03-14T14:49:00.000-05:00

Cingular and T-Mobile are temporarily halting sales of Motorola RAZR phones due to glitch which forces the phone to drop calls and then power down. The bug only effects GSM versions of the RAZR and bad phones should be removed from the market by the end of the week.So much for the $50 mass-retailing of the RAZR from Cingular.

holy hyperspace. google is now mapping mars..

2006-03-13T10:39:00.000-05:00

Google has expanded their mapping service with the launc of a new service entitled Google Mars.Users can explore the surface via map data from NASA, GSFC, and ASU.No word on driving directions from Houston street.

Not an Xbox 360 in sight..and it may be too late

2006-03-13T10:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was poking around to check on availability as part of a client project and all I got were crickets. I hit 8 retailers between Union Square and SOHO (including Circuit City, Best Buy, Gamestop, EB, Virgin Megastore, and others) and the closest I got was one core system at Circuit City. (and btw, why not just call the core system "second place edition". In addition, my attempts to do an

ds vs. ds lite

2006-03-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

Check out this video review and comparison between the "classic" Nintendo DS and the DS Lite. This in-depth review covers the enhanced brightness and slick industrial design of the new must have DS Lite. Its everything you need to know in just under a few minutes. And remember, the enhanced brightness just may "kill you."

When Speculation Becomes Content

2006-03-09T11:37:00.000-05:00

With news of an upcoming new ipod video release, speculation can be found across the internet as to what it will do and more importantly (as it seems), what it will look like.Rumors have become quite the "content element" these days, so its nice to see some sites aggregate the rumors beyond links and quotes speculation. Here is a photo collection of purported ipod video designs.Of course,

no origami for you..today

2006-03-02T13:20:00.000-05:00

According to next generation, the pseudo-vague Origami project from Microsoft will not be presented to the media world today as originally announced, but instead will be unveiled on 03.09.06 which coincides with the european CeBIT trade conference.Additionally, the story reports that the origami platform is intended to be a low-cost hardware specification for media, PDA, and GPS functionality. It

mobile gaming leads to suicide?

2006-03-02T13:07:00.000-05:00

Those "yutes" in asia sure love their added value digital services on their mobile phones. A story from the China Post talks about the recent suicide by a 16 year old korean who racked up a phone bill for over $3,800 by playing games. Apparently the student killed himself once he received the bill.In response to this horror, Korean mobile telecom companies are changing their rates and offers. SK

World of Warcraft is Bigger Than Denmark

2006-03-02T13:01:00.000-05:00

Kotaku has a great posting today in between today's Japan DS Lite launch (and now shortage madness about the total number of World of Warcraft gamers.Blizzard has announced that there are now over 6 million players of WoW which makes their subscriber base bigger than Denmark. Having spent a lot of time in DK, i would also have to say that the subscriber base of DK could take on the DK military.

hey hey its blu-ray

2006-03-01T10:13:00.000-05:00

While the PS3 lacks a release date (which seems to grow further and further away as analysts continue to weigh in with their pessimism) blu-ray video does.On May 23, Samsung will launch its BD-P1000 video player and movies from Sony Pictures and MGM will hit the street.Details on the BD-P1000 (which is shipping about a month behind the previously announced schedule) are as follows (per The

boot race..intel imac vs. g5 imac

2006-01-18T17:37:00.000-05:00

here is a video taken by some happy go lucky mach techs who got a brand new in box intel imac g5. which one smokes the other in terms of start up time?note: click the control bar below the video to stay on this siteTechnorati Tags: platform, computer

google to invest in AOL

2005-12-19T14:54:00.000-05:00

looks like it may be the end of the road for the speculation in regards to the aol sell-off. published reports and the reg point to google making a $1 billion investment in AOL where AOL sales staffers will be able to hock google products and in exchange will give "favored" placement to AOL properties among general google searches.interesting..

xbox delay is due to chip shortage..

2005-12-08T11:38:00.000-05:00

i told all of you this, but some of you didnt want to believe me :) anyway, according to this article from next generation daily news, microsoft even considered delaying the launch due to the short cip yield

over 45% of mariokart owners go online!

2005-12-08T11:02:00.000-05:00

according to nintendo, over 112,000 units of mariokart for the ds have been sold with over 52,000 people taking a cruise online over the nintendo wifi network

intel macs due to launch in june '06?

2005-12-07T09:55:00.000-05:00

whoa. we thought we were going to see some intel macs debut at macworld with the much rumored new mac media center/mac mini, but the register reports that rumors dug up from digitimes suggest that intel based macs will not debut until june 2006.

Nintendo H1 profits halved as GameCube demand declines

2005-11-30T04:47:00.000-05:00

according to the register, :nintendo saw profits decline by 51% due to declining sales (And demand) for the gamecube. this can't be good news considering the recent reports regarding the revolution's graphics capabilities..

test posting

2005-11-30T03:25:00.000-05:00

this is a test posting.here is a photo

360 night

2005-11-21T20:56:00.000-05:00

so its on like voltron tonight as troy and i line up at midnight tonight to pick up our xbox 360s at the midnight launch. eb games, like other retailers across this land are opening their doors at midnight so happy and obsessive indoor kids can get their loot before work tomorrow morning.since console launches only happen every 5 years or so, all gloves and reputations are off as we resort to

light interest in the itunes phone and some sharp criticism

2005-11-09T13:54:00.000-05:00

the reg reports minimal interest in the ROKR phone from apple and motorola with most of the complaints directly related to the limit of the phone's memory capability. in addition, the register points out that apple is losing ground in the mobile market as competitors are using single chip designs to expand mobile entertainment with personal area networking capabilities.

china readies proprietary dvd format

2005-10-13T10:32:00.000-04:00

china, which manufactures over 70% of the world's DVD players is fed up with paying manufacturing royalties to western patent holders, so they are working on their own format to take on the blu-ray/hd-dvd wars. read all about it.

paramount to back blu-ray and hd-dvd

2005-10-05T15:53:00.000-04:00

the register reports that paramount will release its library on blu-ray in addition to hd-dvd when the blu-ray format launches. the article cites the ps3's inclusion of blu-ray as a big factor. what's most interesting is how the article credit's the power of paramount's star trek library as being a key player in the format war. according to the article..In pitching for early adopters, content

i want google footwear..

2005-09-22T09:31:00.000-04:00

isnt it just a matter of time before google gets into the apparel business? i mean, with everything else going on, it just seems to be the natural next stage of evolution. and just think, there are still about 8 days left in september.well, while google puts a crack team on those ventures, they continue to index everything in site, and now, their steamrolling of scanning and indexing is starting

speculation on itunes phone..

2005-09-06T09:44:00.000-04:00

the register posts some comments from forbes' reporters based on what they saw from early motorola itunes phone prototypes..and the speculation isnt so great as they didnt like the interface, nor did they like the storage capability.the word on the street is that apple will launch the phone with motorola at its 9/7 ipod press conference and that the phone will be made available in north america

hp and apple no longer bff

2005-08-01T11:31:00.000-04:00

looks like apple and hp are severing their ties in regards to hp reselling the ipod. the article sugggests that apple is cancelling the agreement and hp is responding accordingly while associating the idea with carly, and therefore and idea that is on its way out.hp claims that the program wasn't as successful as originally hoped for mostly becuase apple was late in providing new products to hp

next gen sony information interfaces..

2005-08-01T10:17:00.000-04:00

ill give a prize to anyone who can figure out what this interface concept is designed for. its pretty impressive, especially when you consider the intuitive nature of the tiled interface..i like the idea that you upgrade your capability with the addition of tiles..not much different than the game/console business model.big thanks to alvaro for sharing this link.

siemens and airbus cut deal for inflight gsm service

2005-07-12T09:57:00.000-04:00

riding the waves of recent deals between handset/network equipment manufacturers and aircraft manufacturers, siemens and airbus have cut a deal where siemens will provide the necessary equipment to enable gsm network phone use on board airbus aircrafts.siemens will supply systems based on the network model of a single cell point built into the aircraft which will route calls through nearby

side stepping the cinemas?

2005-07-07T09:15:00.000-04:00

interesting article from today's register about revelations entertainment" teaming up with intel to develop an online system to deliver films over the internet simultaneously as the films are in theatres. this development is one of the many programs that are in the works to counter piracy of first run films. two things are interesting about this news, the first, is that there is a strong belief

germans to allow in flight cell phone use

2005-07-05T09:27:00.000-04:00

users of the 1800 band of GSM phone service can rejoice if they are flying on german based airlines. the german ministry of transport plans to lift the current ban on inflight talk and data use sometime next year. more info can be found here.

ipod shuffle to get major upgrade?

2005-06-30T14:38:00.000-04:00

according to t3 media, two ipod models will receive substantial upgrades. the ipod mini will soon incorporate an 8gb hard drive while the ipod shuffle will soon become available in 2gb and 4gb configurations. no word on pricing or timing.

sendo files for bankruptcy

2005-06-30T12:54:00.000-04:00

slick mobile phone manufaturer, sendo, has filed for bankruptcy and motorola has agreed to but their research and development division and portfolio. what does this mean for motorola? motorola gains access to some progressive industrial design and advanced smartphone development. add this to the announcement from earlier this week about the pending new phone OS from motorola.

passengers would rather type than talk..

2005-06-22T18:27:00.000-04:00

an article in today's register, talks about how a recent survey of airline passengers indicated that they would prefer that airlines allow inflight sms and data access over talk services with their mobile phones. is this a case of where the consumers may actually win? while the networks would love the "roaming revenue", consumers and other industry groups continue to lobby to change the ban on

cingular looks to supress plane rage..

2005-06-20T09:41:00.000-04:00

cingular is asking the faa to maintain their ban on in-flight phone calls. it appears that cingular wants to prevent the looming threat of plane rage and encourage customers to use mobile phone data services and text messaging as a means of in-flight communication as opposed to voice calls.

time well wasted?

2005-06-16T15:25:00.000-04:00

looks like napster is jumping into an alliance with a mobile phone partner. napster will join forces with sonyericsson to develop a mobile music service that will compete with apple and motorola. lets hope they have something in mind thats remotely resembles an idea: The reinvented Napster is moving into wireless via an alliance with Ericsson. The companies are teaming to launch a

nokia is stepping up

2005-06-14T09:16:00.000-04:00

nokia introdced a few new phones yesterday at an asian conference. the new phones are wall based on a "slider" design which seems to be the new hot design trend. what's even more interesting is that one of the models sports 2 camera. one of the cameras is on the back of the phone for 2 megapixel images, while the camera on the front of the phone is a vga camera for video calls. this particular