Sony Enhances It's PS3 and the PSN

Nick Mahar Nov 19, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Design, Gadgets, Gaming, Hardware, How to, Humor, Industry News, Internet, Movies, Music, Videos, Websites

Earlier today Sony had a management meeting in Japan, where they decided and announced that they would be enhancing the Sony Online Service to be more like iTunes. The PlayStation Store will sell books, movies, music, and possibly games. No set date has yet been planned, but this has been rumored for a while in the Sony community and makes perfect sense especially when trying to have a leg up on Microsoft's Xbox - though I don't see many people running out to their PlayStation's to buy the newest copy of Twilight, and read it from their TV.

In Sony rumors, however, possible plans to bring Firefox to the gaming platform looks promising. PlayStation Insider got a tip (one reportedly "very close" to the company) saying that Sony is in heavy talks with Mozilla. Not anything official, and nothing is known if a deal has been made, but it's very likely since the PS3's current built-in-browser isn't the best.

-NM

[Engadget]

AT&T Gets Pwned By The Courts!

Nick Mahar Nov 19, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Apple, Applications, Gadgets, Hardware, How to, Internet, Microsoft, Mobile, News, Websites, breaking, iPhone

Looks like the iPhone is staying in the island of misfit toys. A federal judge ruled against Ma Bell (AT&T)'s request to have Verizon's map ads removed. This doesn't mean the case is over though. The judge calls the ads "sneaky", and said that it was possible people might misunderstand them because "most people who are watching TV are semi-catatonic." We don't know if that is enough to support a legal order of removing the ads but we will see another day.

Lucky for AT&T, December 16th will be their second chance to argue its case. Either way you look at it though, it's a big win for Verizon, especially with At&t's almost comedic response to the ads.

-NM

ATI Radeon HD 5970 - it's the world's fastest graphics card

Brandon Davenport Nov 18, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Gaming, Hardware, News

Lots of you think your gaming rig has it all goin' on - but it could have a lot more goin' on with the new ATI Radeon HD 5970, dubbed the worlds fastest graphics card, and for a good reason! The new card is one of the first to support Microsoft DirectX 11 and is begging to be Overclocked. Instead of relying on a single GPU, like the already super fast Radeon HD 5870, the 5970 brings a pair of Cypress GPUs linked on a single board by a PCI Express bridge for nearly 5 TeraFLOPS of computer power! As you probably know, you get what you pay for, so you can expect to pay the full $599 suggested retail price when these cards hit shelves today.

Read -- Press Release

[Engadget]

Google Announcing Chrome OS Plans This Thursday!!

Nick Mahar Nov 17, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Apple, Applications, Design, Gadgets, Hacks, Hardware, Internet, Linux, Microsoft, Websites, breaking

Sadly, it's looking like the Chrome OS won't be coming out this week as earlier speculated. But there is good news. This upcoming Thursday in Mountain View, CA headquarters, Google is hosting an event to showcase its progress on the anticipated operating system, Google Chrome. Most importantly, though, is they will be releasing information on its launch plans for next year.

Google Chrome is slowly on it's way and we'll all soon find out if it's amazing or not.

-NM

[ComputerWorld]

Duracell Instant Chargers Perfect?

Nick Mahar Nov 17, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Apple, Design, Gadgets, Hardware, Mobile, Personal, Reviews, iPhone

Everyone has seen external chargers for your iPhone, Blackberry, or what ever, but those usually cost a fortune and only last a certain amount of time. This, however, isn’t one of those. Instead, the Duracell Instant Charger defines awesome. This works with any USB-compatible devices with your adapters.

The two models are Instant Charger ($20) and Powerhouse Charger ($50). Both are lightweight, very easy to use, and perfect, since they are battery operated. Once the batteries die just put in 2 new ones and you’re good to go - no more need to recharge the extra device. With no unnecessary buttons, you’ll only need to navigate an on/off switch, and a simple indicator light (red when charging, green when charged).

The Powerhouse stores enough power to charge an iPhone 3G or Blackberry Curve 1.2 times, or an iPod Nano 4 times. Most iPhone charging solutions have their own special cases, but this thing is portable and costs less than $100.

I’ve been using it for a while and for me one word says it all: perfect. The device is small, functional, and cheap - Why wouldn’t you want it?

Most laptops have a 20% failure rate - Chart

A new study published by SquareTrade revealed that the smaller name brand notebook manufacturers are usually more reliable than their larger rivals. This should either make you cry, or laugh at the other people who got the crappy laptops. This chart is the 3-year service history of more than 30,000 laptops, which you know you're dying to know more about. Firstly, netbooks have shown themselves to be on average 20 percent less reliable than entry-level laptops. On the other hand, entry level laptops are 10 percent more likely to break down than [...]

Protect Your Nano With A Cassette Case

Nick Mahar Nov 17, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Apple, Design, Gadgets, Hardware, Humor, Internet, Mobile, Personal, Pictures, Videos

We've all seen tons of different iPod cases, but have ever been this cool - or stylish. Made from 45 different types of cases gutted from cassette tapes, these puppies fit the 4th gen iPod Nanos.

Just looking at this makes me want to go out and buy a Nano.

-NM