Luigi’s Mansion 2 announced for Nintendo 3DS

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Adventure, E3, Nintendo, Nintendo 3DS,

It's been years since the original Luigi's Mansion game hit the scene, but Nintendo is finally set to release a sequel. At its E3 2011 media briefing, Luigi's Mansion 2 was announced, and it'll be a Nintendo 3DS exclusive. No release date was given, but it certainly looks like a title that'll highlight what the 3DS can do.

Deal of the Day: 82% off Motorola Droid X2 smartphone

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Hot Deals,

Our Deal of the Day today with focuses on an 82% discount on the Motorola Droid X2. Seriously, this is a newly-released dual-core Android device selling at just $89.99 with shipping included. How could we not post this?:

Motorola Droid X2 for $89.99

Don’t forget, if you’re looking for other deals, be sure to check out our Newegg Promo Code thread. Oh, and if you're on Twitter, be sure to follow @TechPromos for the latest deals, or you can Like TechPromos on Facebook.

Feature Breakdown: Apple iCloud, Amazon Cloud Player, Google Music Beta

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, Google, Music,

The biggest player in digital music has finally vaporized its content. Starting this fall, you'll be able to store your digital music library on Apple's internet servers. We've already seen Amazon and Google's attempts at a Web-based music service, with the former's Cloud Player and the latter's Google Music Beta, but with iTunes' dominance in digital music, Apple's iCloud could eclipse both of them. Apple's offering differs from those of Amazon and Google in some big ways, though. Here's a rundown of the three services' differences and similarities.

A central difference of Apple's iCloud versus the others is that it's not just for music: It takes over all the former MobileMe's functions—email, contacts, calendar—along with backing up and syncing iOS device photos, app data, and iWork documents. Thus ends the stormy story of the MobileMe service, which even Steve Jobs noted at WWDC was "not our finest hour." This comparison, though will concern itself primarily with the music aspect of iCloud, iTunes in the Cloud. This piece is available as a beta by downloading iTunes 10.3.

A huge difference of iCloud's music capabilities is that you can't play songs from within a Web browser (at least as far as we have seen so far) as you can with both Amazon and Google's offerings. You'll either need an iOS device or iTunes running on a computer. True, this does include Windows PCs running iTunes, but forget any non-Apple tablets or phones. This lack of Web access is just less flexible. Nor can you stream music from its online storage—the music must be fully downloaded to play.

Click to continue reading Feature Breakdown: Apple iCloud, Amazon Cloud Player, Google Music Beta

Pirq brings real-time deals to your smartphone

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hot Deals, Internet,

Sure, you are probably familiar with deal services like Groupon and LivingSocial, where you spend money up front in exchange for a coupon offering a deep discount for some food or, I dunno, foot rubs...but it's pretty much always the same thing. You get emails with new daily offers, and if you want to take advantage of them, you need to pony up the cash up-front. Pirq is looking to switch things up. They are currently in beta (although you can sign up here,) and they are bringing real-time deals to your smartphone, and you don't need to pre-buy them. You just open the app and look for deals that are going on right then, wherever you happen to be, and you can go grab one. It's a win for the consumer, but also a win for the merchant, since they can tailor deals to manage flow into their establishments, as opposed to the typical Groupon day-after lunchtime rush. It's a good idea, and the man is charge is James Sun, a runner up on The Apprentice.

Read More | Pirq

Nintendo announces Wii U

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories:

During its E3 2011 keynote address, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime announced Wii U, their next-generation console. The intro video was heavily influenced by the Wii U controller, which has a large touchscreen on it. Nintendo says it's a 6.2-inch display, large enough to allow you to play Wii U games directly on the controller if someone else wants to use the television, but it also works with the Wii U console as well, becoming a second screen. It has two analog pads, shoulder buttons, force feedback, accelerometer, control pad, microphone, speakers, gyroscope, and a camera. This is definitelythe most powerful home console controller we've ever seen.

Games announced include Smash Brothers, Assassin's Creed, EA Sports titles, Ghost Recon Online, Tekken, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, Aliens Colonial Marines, Lego City Stories, Darksiders II,  and more. Nintendo did make sure to mention that Wii U is an HD console, which leads us to believe that this is more than just a new Wii controller, but they really made the announcement all about the controller and less about the console itself.

Nintendo says that Wii U will launch in 2012, but no price was announced.

Developing...

Apple set to take on RIM with iMessage in iOS 5

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Storage,

Among the various iOS 5 features Apple chief Steve Jobs unveiled today at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2011) was iMessage, a messaging option for iOS devices reminiscent of RIM's BlackBerry Messenger.

Apple said iMessage "brings the functionality of iPhone messaging to all of your iOS devices―iPhone, iPad and iPod touch." It is built into the Messages app, and allows users to send messages, photos, videos, or contact information to other iOS 5 users via Wi-Fi or 3G.

Like BBM, however, iMessage will include delivery and read receipts, and typing indication, so you know if the person has received your message and if they are typing back. Apple's iMessage will also have secure end-to-end encryption.

Click to continue reading Apple set to take on RIM with iMessage in iOS 5

Watch WWDC 2011 keynote, featuring Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud, right now

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Software, Videos,

Hey, we know you wanna get a look at all the goodness announced this morning at the WWDC 2011 keynote, right? I mean, OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud are Apple's new triumverate of dominance, and it would be nice to see it all unfold in front of your eyes. Just hit the link below, and you can stream the entire thing from the cloud on pretty much any device.

Read More | WWDC 2011 Keynote video

Xbox Live will store your profile and game saves to the cloud this fall

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

Microsoft didn't have enough time to cover everything that's coming down the pike for Xbox Live with the fall dashboard update, but they sent us an email detailing some of the new hotness that they didn't talk about on stage, and we're super excited to hear that profiles will be able to be saved to the cloud. What does that mean for the average Joe? Well, this means that instead of saving your games to your hard drive or USB stick, you can instead save them to the web. Same goes for your Xbox Live profile, along with achievements, friend list, etc. One thing I've always hated about having two Xbox 360 units in the home is that I need to remember to grab my USB stick and bring it upstairs and down if I want to log into Live. Now, I just enter a username and password on any Xbox 360, from any location, and I am logged in. The days of recovering a Gamertag will be history come this fall!

Download iOS 5 beta 9A5220p now

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Software,

Apple has been busy updating their Dev Center with all of the hotness they talked about today during the WWDC 2011 keynote. They just added in all the iOS 5 beta versions for the various iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV devices that will support it, and if you're a Mac developer, don't forget to also pick up the latest Lion Developer Preview 4.

OS X Lion Developer Preview 4 now available

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, PC / Laptop, Software,

For all you peeps out there with Mac Developer accounts, you'll wanna grab the latest OS X Lion Developer Preview 4 build that Apple just released. This morning at its WWDC 2011 keynote, the company re-introduced us to many of the OS X 10.7 Lion features that we were already familiar with, but this time things have a lot more fit and finish on them. Lion will launch next month at $29.