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Latest Video: Bleeding Edge TV 337: Sony Bloggie HD camcorders

We catch up with Sony to learn about their new line of Bloggie HD camcorders at the CES 2010 It Won't Stay in Vegas blogger party!
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Original Xbox games lose Xbox Live access on April 15

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live

Xbox Live v1

Check it out, Microsoft just announced that all games made for the original Xbox will no longer be able to access the Xbox Live service as of April 15, 2010, and we couldn’t be happier with the news. No, we don’t hate classics like Halo 2, but the thing is, those titles are many years old, and they’ve been holding back the full potential of Xbox Live for far too long. As an example, it’s no secret that we hate the Xbox Live friend limit, and the major reason it exists is because of Halo 2. With Halo 2, and all the rest of the original Xbox games, being denied access to Live, Microsoft will be able to stop worrying about those original Xbox restrictions - and that means, among other things, that we should finally see that friend limit jacked up, if not removed entirely.

It should be noted that, even if you downloaded original Xbox games on your Xbox 360 using Games on Demand, even those won’t work when you try to connect to Xbox Live. It’s just the nature of the beast, and it’s all in the name of progress.

Read More | Gamerscore Blog

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Apple iPad tour video

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories:

Wanna get a look at the right now, before Apple get’s today’s event video posted? Well, you can, as Apple has put up a video that tours you through the iPad hardware and unique software features, including the new email app, keyboard, iBooks ebook store, pixel-doubled apps, and more. Hit the video above for a look at Apple’s largest multitouch device.


Apple iPad revealed

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Handhelds

Apple iPad

It’s been a long, rumor-filled road, but today has finally revealed a tablet, called the . Steve Jobs seemed genuinely thrilled to demo the iPad, which weighs just 1.5 pounds, is a half-inch thin, and has a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS display. More interesting, Apple has built their own custom 1GHz processor, called the Apple A4 chip, to power the iPad. According to Jobs, the A4 chip “just screams,” and as a result, the iPad boasts a 10-hour battery life, with a full one month of standby time. You’ll be able to get one in 16, 32, or 64GB sizes, and we’ll have the prices as soon as they’re announced prices listed below. Bluetoth, 802.11n Wi-Fi, speaker, microphone, and dock connector round out the offerings.

One of the big draws of the iPad is that all current iPhone apps will run just fine on it, and you can choose to run them at the original resolution, or in a pixel-doubled mode for fullscreen on the iPad. Apps can also be optimized for iPad to take advantage of the full screen resolution, as well as enhanced gestures. A new iPhone SDK, which includes iPad support, will be released later today.

The goal with the iPad is to do the tasks like web browsing, email, photo viewing, video watching, and e-book reading (Apple is including a new ereader app called iBooks) better than a netbook ever could, but also better than a smartphone ever could. The iPad has a “gorgeous” keyboard that actually looks very easy to use, and the actual built-in applications look more like the full version of OS X than what you’d find on the iPhone or iPod touch. In fact, you even get full-featured applications like iPhoto, iTunes, iBooks, and even Pages, Keynote, and Numbers in iWork for the iPad.

As far as 3G data plans, the iPad has two plans available from AT&T in the US. $14.99 per month for up to 250MB of data, or $29.99 per month for unlimited data. The best part? There are no contracts. You pay on a pre-paid month-to-month basis, so there are no cancellation fees. You activate your plan directly from the iPad, with no reason to hit an AT&T Store. All iPad 3G models are unlocked and use GSM micro SIMs, so in theory, you could get a better plan of your own elsewhere and just use that.

Let’s talk pricing - each model of the iPad is available as a Wi-Fi-only or Wi-Fi + 3G configuration. 16GB is $499 / $629, 32GB costs $499 / $729, and the 64GB model will be $699 / $829. As far as availability, iPad without 3G will start shipping at the end of March, while the 3G models will start shipping at the end of April. Choose wisely!


Steve Jobs reveals the Apple iPad

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds

Apple iPad

At this morning’s Apple tablet event, Steve Jobs revealed the latest creation from the company, the Apple . More details as we get them!


Confirmed: Apple Tablet runs iPhone OS says McGraw-Hill CEO

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Rumors

Okay, we all know by now that is going to be announcing their tablet at tomorrow’s January 27th Apple event, but the CEO of McGraw-Hill, Terry McGraw, just kinda spilled the beans on CNBC:

“Yeah, Very exciting. Yes, they’ll make their announcement tomorrow on this one. We have worked with Apple for quite a while. And the Tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable. So what you are going to be able to do now is we have a consortium of e-books. And we have 95% of all our materials that are in e-book format on that one. So now with the tablet you’re going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific.”

Is true, that means no tablet, to those who were hoping for that. Thoughts?

Read More | MacRumors

Analyst: iPhone will soon be available on all US wireless carriers

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Handhelds, Rumors

Verizon iPhoneGotta love those analysts, as they’re always good for stirring the rumor mill - this time it’s BusinessWeek reporting claims that will likely be ending it’s exclusive relationship with AT&T in order to bring the iPhone to all major US carriers. According to Tim Horan, telecommunications analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., T-Mobile USA should have the iPhone available this summer (whatever the follow-up to the iPhone 3GS turns out to be,) with Verizon and Sprint getting the goods this fall. Even Clearwire will be able to get in on the action, as they are expected to get the iPhone sometime in 2011. Of course, AT&T has been the exclusive carrier of the iPhone since it launched in June 2007.

Of course, Apple has the perfect opportunity to announce changes like this if they’d like, as they’ve got what many are predicting to be a colossal Apple event on January 27th, just two days from now. We’ll keep you posted.

Read More | BusinessWeek

WSJ: Apple Tablet to focus on games, TV, music, reading

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, PC / Laptop, Rumors

Apple Tablet

While we await the coming arrival of the fabled Apple tablet, which we all expect to finally arrive at the January 27th Apple event, it appears that the Wall Street Journal has gotten a bit of inside information that offers a glimpse of what the iPad / iSlate will end up doing for us. Of course, we still suggest taking all of this with a grain of salt, but this isn’t far off from the whispers we’ve been hearing either:

  • The Apple tablet will have some sort of virtual keyboard. This only makes sense, because if there’s no physical keyboard, you’d need a virtual one to type on (similar to the iPhone and iPod touch)
  • Publishing firms like Conde Nast, The New York Times, and HarperCollins have been in discussions with Apple on how they can get their content onto the tablet, and new ways of displaying the news on a modern (or even futuristic) device
  • Apple is definitely pondering a switch as it pertains to the default search engine on their iPhone OS, focusing on replacing Google with for search, as well as Maps.
  • They’ve also been in talks with TV networks about the possibility of a multi-show iTunes TV subscription package, where users would get to choose a package of the best 4-6 shows per channel and subscribe for a monthly fee.
  • That whole Lala acquisition by Apple will likely lead to a web-based version of iTunes, which would allow for purchasing music outside of the actual iTunes application. It would also allow for publishers to place buttons that would allow readers to purchase iTunes content right on their website. There may even be a service that would allow users to stream all their iTunes music through the service to other computers, iPhones, and the like. This is basically a merge of iTunes and Lala in its current form.
  • The tablet may have some sort of smart recognition built-in, giving it the ability to recognize the user by using its camera, and then applying settings for that specific user on the fly

There’s a lot there, we know. Luckily, we are just six days away from hearing the word from the horse’s mouth. What do you think? Anything up there sound a little too far-fetched for your tastes? Also, please be sure to vote in our poll letting us know if you’d pre-order the Apple tablet sight unseen.


Amazon bringing apps to Kindle with Kindle Development Kit

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds, Software

Kindle Development Kit

is getting into the apps game, with “active content” coming to the later this year with the announcement of the Kindle Development Kit (KDK.) You’ll be able to download these apps wirelessly using the Kindle Store once they launch, and we already know that there are some devs that are already hard at work on their Kindle active content.

Amazon says it has already released the Kindle Development Kit to a select number of partners, including the video game giant Electronic Arts, and will make it more widely available when a limited beta period starts next month. It anticipates formally adding what it calls “active content” to the Kindle store sometime later this year.

Some are seeing this as a reaction to the many, many new ereaders that we saw debut at , while others think it is a preventative measure to take some steam out of whatever it is that Apple will be announcing next week at the January 27th Apple Event. Regardless of what it is, having more value added to a device is never a bad thing.

Read More | Amazon

How to fix the Nexus One 3G issue

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cell Phones, Handhelds, Wireless / WiFi

Nexus One 3G Fix

If you’re a Nexus One owner, you may be well aware of the 3G issue that the device has, where it won’t connect to (or stay connected to) 3G, constantly falling back to EDGE. We know not all have experienced this oddity, but it’s enough of a problem that we’ve been getting emails about it, asking if there was a fix. Luckily, Kevin Tofel over at jkOnTheRun seems to have figured out a fix, and it’s simple to do:

  • Go into Settings
  • Select “Wireless & Networks”
  • Choose the “Mobile Networks” option near the bottom
  • Go into the “Network Operators” section. The Nexus One will do a search for GSM networks around you.
  • When the search is complete, tap the “Select Automatically” option. The phone should respond with “Registered on network.”

That should do it! According to Kevin, he hasn’t been able to get 3G access from his home in the 10 days that he’s had the device. After doing the above, he’s been speeding along on 3G non-stop, even after reboots. If you’re experiencing similar issues, give it a try, and let us know how it works for you!

Read More | jkOnTheRun

iPhone OS 4.0 to arrive 1/27 with new interface, multitasking?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Handhelds, Rumors, Software

iPhone OS 4.0

Our pals over at Boy Genius Report are saying they’ve received some inside information about the iPhone OS 4.0, which is heavily rumored to debut, and possibly even be released, at the Apple event on January 27th. Here’s what they are saying about iPhone OS 4.0:

  • There will be multi-touch gestures OS-wide. (Would make sense for that as the rumored OS for the iTablet is close if not the same as the iPhone)
  • “A few new ways” to run applications in the background—multitasking.
  • Many graphical and UI changes to make navigating through the OS easier and more efficient. We haven’t had this broken down, but we can only hope for improved notifications, a refreshed homescreen, etc.
  • The update will supposedly be available for only the iPhone 3G and 3GS, but will “put them ahead in the smartphone market because it will make them more like full-fledged computers” more than any other phone to date. Everyone is “really excited.”
  • The last piece of information is the most vague, but apparently there will be some brand new syncing ability for the contacts and calendar applications.

As far as we’re concerned, we think that a graphical and UI interface refresh is definitely needed for the iPhone, which hasn’t really seen any major interface changes since it launched. Of course, we will be bringing you all the new on January 27th as it happens.


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