Zune 3.1 update: More games, better Social, more

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Microsoft, Music, Portable Audio / Video, Video Games

Just two months after the Zune 3.0 release, Microsoft is now deploying the next incremental update to their Zune platform with Zune 3.1. Available for download today, the Zune 3.1 update brings quite a few welcome feature changes and updates:

• New Games: Checkers, Sudoku, and Space Battle
• New multiplayer mode, and single-player difficulty levels, for Texas Hold’em
• Visual changes to the Zune Social, making it prettier and easier to navigate
• Like-Minder Listeners feature added to social, allowing you to compare your music tastes to others
• Improved play count reporting, content synchronization, and other bug fixes in both the hardware and software

You can grab the update now by launching your Zune software, going into Settings, and hitting Check for Updates.

Read More | Zune Insider

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PS3 2.30 firmware to bring DTS-HD Master Audio to console, revamped PLAYSTATION Store

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Downloadable Content, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Network, Release Dates, Sony

Okay, so first and foremost, the atrocious PLAYSTATION Store that the PS3 has been sporting is going to be replaced with PS3 firmware 2.30. That is a good thing, because compared to both the Xbox Live Marketplace and the Wii Shopping Channel, the PLAYSTATION Store just performs horrible in our opinion. So good on Sony for changing that up. You can get a look at the new interface in the video above, which Sony put together. It looks a lot better.

Second thing, which is even better than the store upgrade if you ask us, is that the 2.30 firmware update is going to finally bring DTS-HD Master Audio to the Playstation 3, alongside DTS-HD High Resolution Audio. If you are a Blu-ray fan, then this means the world to you if you have a compatible receiver. Be prepared for perfect lossless audio to be read at an “incredible high variable rate of 24.5 mega-bits per second” in 7.1 surround sound. This is the one thing the PS3 was missing as a Blu-ray player (well, this, and Dolby-HD), and now makes it pretty much future-proof.

You get all this goodness on April 15th.

Read More | Playstation Blog

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iPhone Dev Team jailbreaks and unlocks iPhone 2.0

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Handhelds, Mods / Hacks, Software

In an absurd turn of events, the iPhone Dev Team has announced that they’ve completely unlocked the upcoming iPhone 2.0 software that we are all waiting to get access to come this June. Even better, it is a full unlock as opposed to a simple jailbreak. Custom hacked firmware, ready to run and install any application, whether is is unsigned or “Apple Approved.” Better still, the Dev Team believes that this is a hole that Apple is going to have a very difficult time closing. I guess I should have known when my pal Nate True informed me a while back that, until Apple releases new iPhone hardware, the method used for breaking in will continue to work, regardless of any changes made to the software. This is all part of the Pwnage Project.

We love it.

Read More | ModMyiFone

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iPhone 1.1.3 firmware feature gallery

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Cell Phones, Features, Software

UPDATE: In case you thought this was fake, Steve Jobs just confirmed that our 1.1.3 coverage is real in his MacWorld 2008 keynote.

Looks like the soon-to-be-released iPhone firmware 1.1.3 has quite a few surprises. We were able to get a look at it, and here is what we found:

• The ability to send an SMS message to multiple people is now there
• Google Maps application can now pinpoint your location using cell tower triangulation
• Google Maps can now display the Hybrid map view
• You can now drag and drop application icons on your home screen
• The home screen supports pagination
• You can now add web bookmarks to your home screen

That is all we have found for now. We also know that is you used AnySIM to unlock your phone, you can expect the 1.1.3 update to brick it. Good times. Take a look at our iPhone Firmware 1.1.3 Gallery for a photo tour of the new stuff. By the way, if you are looking for an excellent program to create custom ringtones for your iPhone, check out iPhone RingToneMaker.

EDIT: We are answering your iPhone 1.1.3 questions! Check out our first batch of iPhone 1.1.3 answers here.

Read More | iPhone 1.1.3 Feature Gallery

Gallery: iPhone 1.1.3 firmware feature gallery

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Apple slowly bumping up the speed on iPhones?

Posted by Sparky Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Portable Audio / Video, Wireless / WiFi

With the new 1.1.2 firmware many users reported that their iPhones ‘felt a little snappier’. This could be in part due to the fact that with the 1.1.2 firmware the processor is actually being used at a slightly higher speed. iPhones ship with a 624mz processor, but originally Apple capped them at 400mz for typical use to help enhance the battery life. With 1.1.2 that’s been bumped up to 412.

While this may not be major news right now, it does hint that Apple may have more features planned which require the additional horsepower. Another side of the coin may be that as Apple continues to refine the iPhone code base and make various functions more efficient they can ramp up the processor without adversely affecting battery life. Whatever the cause we can hopefully look forward to seeing our iPhones get faster and faster with each coming software update.

Read More | iPhone Atlas

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Samsung BD-P1000 and BD-P1200 Blu-ray players get new BD+ firmware tomorrow

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Movies, Software

Our pals over at Samsung just alerted us to the fact that their BD-P1000 and BD-P1200 Blu-ray disc players will be receiving the firmware upgrade treatment tomorrow. This is good news, because some of the latest Blu-ray titles have had issues playing on the Samsung players due to the lack of BD+ support. This update fixes that. Here are all the details, straight from them:
Available on Friday, 10/12/07, the firmware update will be available on www.samsung.com for users to download, burn to disc, and load into the player.  Owners of the BD-P1200 will have the option to do the update via the player’s Ethernet connection.  This firmware update will resolve freezing issues experienced when viewing Fox titles and their BD+ features.  Details are as follows:
BD-P1000 Firmware Update
This firmware update provides the following benefits:

• Enhanced Blu-ray movie title playability regarding BD+

BD-P1200 Firmware Update
The firmware update provides the following benefits:

• Improves playback compatibility in some movies
• Enhanced Blu-ray movie title playability regarding BD+
• Enhanced performance of in-movie games
• Fixing audio noise in some movies

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Mac Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.1 Released

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Software

If you are pushing a Mac Pro, time to fire up Software Update, as Apple has just pushed out the Mac Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.1. What’s it do? Straight from the horse’s mouth:

The SMC Firmware Update adjusts fan behavior in Mac Pro. The updater application will be installed in the /Applications/Utilities folder and will launch automatically. Please follow the instructions in the updater application to complete the process.

So there you have it - fan behavior upgrade. Not too exciting, but still important.

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New Wii Firmware Streamlines Shop Interface

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Nintendo, Wii

Earlier today, the Wii received a firmware update that closed the Wii Shop for several hours. Now that’s it’s back up, it’s readily apparent that the Shop was the main beneficiary. It now sports a search feature and lists the most popular games, among other things. There was a variety of other, smaller changes that have been documented on NeoGAF.

Channels:

• Digital Clock added to the Wii Menu right under the channel bar
• Forecast Channel now displays the current condition (cloudy, raining, etc.) directly in the Wii Menu in the Forecast Channel box
• News Channel can now show 2 scrolling headlines at a time in the Wii Menu, 3 when you click on the button (supposedly this requires occasional downloading of the headlines to keep the ticker updated)
• Message Board now has the “Today’s Accomplishments” message as a white message which allows it to stand out from other messages
• Address Book entries can now be shifted around using A+B (supposed to be a launch feature) but only to empty spaces. Not too convenient.
• Calendar in Message Board no longer shows “Today’s Accomplishment” only days as having messages
• Scrolling messages in the Message Board now uses a different sound
• Today’s Accomplishments in Message Boards now includes the names of people to whom messages were sent out

Wii Shop Channel Overhauled: (Visual aesthetic is the same, changes made to organization and browsing methods mostly)

• New Welcome screen detailing 4 Recommended Titles and the points they cost (gone is the title screen bar that had linkable games). The title bar can be clicked on to bring up a list of 20 recommended games.
• Titles You’ve Downloaded was moved to the main shop menu
• New ways to browse
• Popular Titles (2 pages of 10 and includes launch games so not only based on recent info)
• Newest Additions remains the same
• Search for a title which can use partial names
• Search by Category
• System shows the different systems and how many titles have been released under each
• Publisher showing different publishers and amount of titles released (Nice logos!)
• Genre (different genres listed and amount of titles under each)

Accessibility

• Load times in interchannel loading has supposedly decreased
• Password fields filled in using the keyboard (like on the Internet Channel) now display

Settings

• Warning added pre-system update detailing that technically modified consoles may cease to function upon being updated. Also the only way to not accept an update is to power down the console by holding the button for 4 seconds (the user can’t back out of hitting I Accept w/o powering down)
• Ability to quickly scroll the different options pages using the +,- keys
• Blue disc light lights up when inserting or removing a game
• Light also comes on when starting the Forecast or News Channels

Read More | NeoGAF

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PSP Gets Version 3.50, A Lot More Awesome

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, PlayStation 3, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Wireless

Sony’s big little handheld that could has been getting precious little coverage recently, so we’re happy to see that Sony is working on some Good Things for the widescreen wonder. The latest and greatest this week is the 3.50 firmware update which will allow you to remotely access your PS3’s harddrive from any wireless access point using the PSP. That opens up a lot of possibilities, including streaming games, movies, and photos to your PSP. Assuming, of course, you already have a small inheritance PSP and PS3.

PSP Fanboy has the file just waiting on their site, so we’ll point you their way! Enjoy!

Read More | PSP Fanboy

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PS3 Firmware 1.70 Adds Rumble For PS1, PS2 Games

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3, PSP, Retro

Sony has made a new firmware update for the PlayStation 3 available, version 1.70. While not as huge as the previous 1.60 update, it looks like there are some decent improvements included. According to posts on the official Sony forums, the update includes the following:

• You can now download PlayStation® format software from PLAYSTATION®Store, and play it on the PS3™ system.
• You can now use saved data for PlayStation® format software on the PSP™ system.
• You can now use the vibration function of accessories that are for use with PlayStation® and PlayStation®2 format software.

Sony’s settlement with Immersion seems to be paying off again, with gamers getting rumble back in their older games, assuming they have a way to connect their old dual shock controllers to the PS3. It also looks like the promised feature to allow downloadable PS1 games on the PS3 will be coming soon – users in the forums are reporting that existing titles don’t have this ability, but common PS3/PSP classic downloads should be available in the next few days. As an added bonus, game saves should also be compatible between the two, meaning that gamers can play downloaded titles on the road and when they get back home, they can upload their save to the PS3 and continue playing.

Read More | Playstation.com

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