In case you missed the last Game with Fame featuring Dream Theater, you’ll get another chance to play Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge on Sunday against The Bravery’s frontman Sam Endicott and keyboardist John Conway. Not sure why the others won’t be participating, but you may be able to get in a game of Halo 3 as well. Jump in this Sunday from 2-4pm PST. Gamertags: TheBraveryJ TheBraveryA → Read More
We first covered the rather different advertising campaign for Microsoft’s iPod wannabe MP3 player the Zune in November. Enamored perhaps by the surrealism presented in the original campaign, Microsoft has sponsored a project called Zune-Arts, which created the above ad for the Zune. According to Wired earlier this week, the site is dedicated to creating “pieces of art, content with viral potential, instead of just a [regular] 30-second commercial.” Microsoft’s Robert Schaltenbrand said that the campaign is part of Microsoft’s push to target “the cultural core, the key influencers in society that pay attention to this kind of art,” presumably so they’ll buy Zunes. Each clip created for the project revolves around the concept of sharing, which apparently is the Zune’s main selling point. Regular TechCrunch commenter Fake Steve Ballmer claims that Microsoft has “finally cracked the cool thing” but I can’t help that think that this would be way cooler under the influence of one of a variety of drugs*, as opposed to it being appealing to a broader spectrum of key influencers. Does this make you want to go out and buy a Zune? *TechCrunch does not condone the taking of illicit substances, description for graphical demonstration purposes only → Read More
When TV goes totally digital in 2009, Grandma is going to be stuck with TVs that don’t get any of her stories. The remedy is this little DTT900 box, which will sell for about $60. This is a $20 premium over the $40 coupon households can request from the federal government and that gets you a digital-to-analog converter, remote, and build-in V-CHIP and close captioning, ensuring she doesn’t miss a minute of Price is Right. It has composite and RF-in and is basically puts that old RCA on life-support long enough to finally convince Grammy to get a plasma and a PS3, because Ninety Nine Nights will totally kick her ass. → Read More
The format war is over, kids. It’s going to be a Blu-Ray/HD DVD world whether we like it or not and getting one or the other right now is probably a bad idea. Witness the BF200 from LG, arriving now for $999. Here’s my take: While pure play devices might pop up in consoles — as they have — and some low-cost devices — as they have — these are basically a way to convince users in the 18-34 age bracket to buy Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs. Once each disc type reaches critical mass — AKA once those users get girlfriends and buy When Harry Met Sally in Blu Ray and/or HD DVD — expect dual players like the BF200 to lead the day. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. The BF200 is Blu-Ray Live ready, with a proper patch, and should be shipping right now. LG apparently “sat out” Black Friday, as they told us today at a presentation at their HQ in New Jersey, which is probably why you didn’t see these for $9.99 with a purchase of a hot dog at the Sears concession stand. → Read More
Some of my worst retail memories are of moments spent at CompUSA. Bad prices. Bad selection. Customer anti-service. Don’t even think about returns. Walking into a CompUSA store is just about the polar opposite of walking into, say, an Apple store. Well, it’s in the deadpool now. They’re closing all of their remaining 103 stores. The upside of all of this is that the stores will likely be selling all their stuff at big discounts. Have a particularly egregious story to share about CompUSA? Tell me all about it. You’ll feel better after the purge. → Read More
Are these not some sexy-looking headphones? I have just recently been looking for a decent pair of wireless wired headphones with decent battery life, good sound, and a reasonable price tag. Guess I’ll have to settle for two out of three, because these things cost $250. But look at them. They look like they could play games themselves, they’re so professional. They come with an amp/hub that provides the base for their operation, and there’s a detachable microphone with noise canceling built in. The cans are Dolby Digital certified and the MixAmp does the mixing, as you might expect. I’d sure like to get my hands on a pair of these! Now let’s just hope Astro Gaming takes the hint. I’ll be watching my mailbox. Astro Gaming [via QJ Gadgets] → Read More
It’s a good month for customers, at least if you believe what you read. In another triumph of savvy consumers over corporate retardation, Activison (now Activision-Blizzard, of course) will be correcting that minor oversight by which Wii owners only got mono sound in a music-based game. “We recently became aware that some consumers have not been able to enjoy the full audio output in the Nintendo Wii version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,” said an Activision spokesman. Somebody give this guy a high five. They’ve decided to do a new pressing of the game and send out the corrected discs free of charge to anybody who wants one (and owns the original, of course.) So keep an eye out for a follow-up, kids, and maybe you too will finally be able to live out your “Freebird” fantasies with both channels. Guitar Hero 3 Wii Mono Sound to be Remedied with Free Remastered Game Discs [Shack News] → Read More
Zygo Communications, the UK mobile social networking messaging startup, completed a second round of business angel funding this week, the amount was not disclosed. Zygo has created an engine for group messaging across the web and mobile. Sounds a little like Twitter, right? Perhaps the difference is that Zygo will – when it launches its beta following this new funding – target advertising based on the groups’ profiles. It has developed an advertising engine that inserts targeted ads, links, promotions, content, whatever into each message, in a non-intrusive manner. In February it launched a consumer trial with AOL in the UK. Right now Twitter is just telling me to ‘Call your mum’ or something equally inane, and paying for the privilege, at least in the UK where it has to pay for sent texts. Recently Twitter has started to limit the amount of inbound SMS in the UK to 250 texts per user per week, no doubt after being stunned by British addiction to the medium. ZYGOHubs uses a standard telephone number to enable individuals to communicate with their entire team or a group of friends, with one SMS. Zygo has also developed group voicemail and conference calling. The investment includes a second round of investment from Richard Brennan, a former executive with Orange, and current chairman of Zygo. Assuming the service is free but ad-supported, Zygo could do pretty well with this model. Twitter is great for geeks who love the new applications like Snitter built on Twitter’s API, but the average Joe would just like to group text message and not be stung by huge charges. → Read More
If you’re the kind of DJ who likes to dual-wield iPods or keep your vinyl on your MacBook, maybe you should take a look at this thing. It’s got a huge amount of features, ports for USB stuff, and space for you to put your own 2.5″ drive in. It has to be PATA, formatted for FAT32, but whatever. Judging from the sheer number of buttons, dials, and toggles on the top of the thing, you can do just about anything to your mp3 or wave files. It’s also got a tight little LCD screen and a proprietary music management program. Actually, I could do without that last one. Denon DJ DN-HS5500 → Read More
Umm, Google? Did we do something to deserve the coals or lack there of that you’ve sent to CG’s HQ? The ladies over at Sugar have gotten their well-manicured paws on an ultra-thin 2GB flash memory drive encased in a brown and powder blue leather case. Not that we even need any more USB drives or anything, but it would have been nice to know you cared. Jerks. Google Gives the Gift of Sleek Storage This Christmas [geeksugar] → Read More
A big thank you to everybody for filling our tips at crunchgear dot com inbox with wonderful, unique, and newsworthy items. Here are five that we just couldn’t get to this week. Subject: Mannequins order Hello,This is Marcus Brown from California and i will like to know if you do produce Mannequins?i will order them to my new company in Ghana.i will like you to email me back if you have so that i will tell you the specifications of the Mannequins i will order.Also include the payment method you accept for your orders.i have a freight company who will come to your location to pick them to my location after payment have been done.Hope to hear from you soon and have a wonderful day MARCUS BROWN → Read More
What can I say, Oregon is a hotbed of talent. Heh. Granted, Dakine was started in Hawai’i, but Hood River is now home to Dakine’s HQ and for good reason. It’s centrally located to Mt. Hood, the Pacific is a few hours away and the kiteboarding capital of the world, Columbia Gorge, is right in their backyard. So is it any wonder that they make top of the line gear? Whether you’re taking a day trip to the mountain for a hike, hitting the freshly powdered slopes or jumping on a plane they’ve got you covered. Here are a few packs that are sure to keep your gadgets out of harms way. → Read More
This is possibly the last time I do anything on the still-to-launch Fav.or.it… until they actually come out of closed beta. Writing about stuff hardly anyone can see is not an ideal situation. However, they are releasing tidbits of information about how the service will work in the end, and it looks pretty slick. The latest info is that fav.or.it will have a Mashup Editor or a ’slice’ engine built in Ajax which is capable of letting you cut and dice your feeds. They are also building in their equivalent of Tinyurl.com, which lets you quickly share a link to another webpage. The fav.or.it ID allows you to share a slice of content with just one unique number so it can be posted to digg, reddit, del.icio.us or email to a friend. Below is some video of the mashup editor made by founder Nick Halstead. I previously wrote an overview of Fav.or.it here. → Read More
In the great war between the Rebellion and the evil Empire, there were casualties on both sides that cannot be counted. Suffice it to say that each contender made a mark on the other, swapping lightsaber wounds for blaster scars, neither willing to admit defeat until the final moment when a penitent Darth Vader threw a merciless Emperor down a plasma-filled reactor shaft. That’s not to say there weren’t wastes of other things, as well. X-Wing fighters were turned into interstellar scrap, Death Stars became debris fields, and AT-AT walkers were shown to not be as invincible as once thought. This model, by Dimitri Kaliviotis is an excellent example of just such ruin, and is one of the coolest things I’ve seen this year. Abandoned Refuge [Starship Modeler, vis Star Wars Blog] → Read More
This week’s MashupDemo event in London, which saw 16 startups demo, coincided with an interesting announcement from Sun Microsystems. The tech giant appears to have suddenly realised there is a startup scene in Europe and has lauched its Sun Startup Essentials (SSE) programme in the UK and Israel, prior to a wider European roll-out next year. This offers access to advanced Sun technologies and consultancy at a discounted rate, with the implicit suggestion that if the startup gets bigger they may well want to buy more from Sun down the track. Startups ae invited to apply for the programme and need to meet Sun’s selection criteria. The startup needs to be less than four years old, less that 150 employees, and a real business (not just someone’s part-time project). What you get is free software, discounts on Sun equipment with x86 chips and Spark chips and storage, plus NTT Online Europe is offering discounts to members of the programme. There’s more info here and here. Do you think that’s a helpful offer from Sun or would you like to see more? What other tech companies do you think should offer discounts to startups? → Read More
I’d think this was a joke, except for the USPTO entry. Fark has lodged a trademark application for the term “Not Safe For Work.” According to this USPTO entry, Fark wants sole rights over NSFW in the following areas: Entertainment Services namely providing a website featuring photographic, audio, video and prose presentations featuring comedic captions regarding current events and online discussions and/or reviews of web materials of an adult nature; Entertainment services, namely, providing a web site featuring musical performances, musical videos, related film clips, photographs, and other multimedia materials; Entertainment services, namely, providing on-line reviews of photogrpahs and /or web postings of an adult nature As Trademork points out, it might be a little difficult to protect and enforce this mark given its already widespread usage, including a range of other websites the use the term (and the NSFW abbreviation) in their title. NSFW has also become a common term used widely to the point that it even has its own Dictionary entry. → Read More
Looking for that special gift for the lady in your life? Or maybe your ready to tell the lady in your life that you’ve been following (but doesn’t know you exist) how much she means to you. Or maybe you really like pink and you want to give a little to a worthy cause. Whatever the case, consider the Komen Milano from Mobile Edge. It’s made of faux pink crocodile and 10% of the $129.99 purchase price will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast cancer charity. → Read More
Askmen.com got their top 10 hottest tech women of 2007 all wrong when they failed to include geeksugar, in my honest opinion. Anyhoo, geeksugar put together a gift guide for the geeky girl in your life and you should probably pay attention since we all know you’re scrambling around trying to figure out what her cup size is and whether she likes edible panties. To each his own, but these are some sure fire ways to score brownie points with the little lady. Geeksugar does a great job covering the basics from condoms for the BB Pearl to a fashionable Kodak camera wallet to a Mango Tango Faux Croc Laptop Bag. Check it out and you’ll thank her later. Trust me. geeksugar’s Gift Guide: Great Gadgets for Girlfriends [Geeksugar] → Read More
http://cdn.channel.aol.com/aolexd_widgets/aolwidget_9.swf The Wachowski Brothers who are soon to be Wachowski brother and sister have teamed up to bring the 1960s anime onto the big screen and it’s making me trip out. That’s like being on acid. Not that I know what that’s like, but I’d imagine that’s what life is like when you’re on it. Holy crap this movie is going to rock. If you have no idea what Speed Racer is then you seriously need to educate yourself by going here. → Read More
Just a quick note, sportsfans. Today Woot is having a Woot-off! We do love our Woot-offs here at the Gear, and you should, too. Go get some good stuff! woot dot com → Read More
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