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Back in the mid-nineties, Tomagotchi virtual pets were all the rage. That was right in the midst of my high school days, when everywhere I turned a girl had one on her belt loop. Bandai is set to bring back the phenomenon with the Chibi line of Tomagotchi’s. These are about two-thirds the size of the original, but seem to be otherwise similar.
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| Product Page via Gizmodo
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MTV and Microsoft have teamed up for a cross promotion that will result in the Xbox 360 being unveiled worldwide on MTV on May 12 and May 13. The system won’t be shown at E3 until May 16, which is the same day that Sony will show the Playstation 3 for the first time. Elijah Woods of The Lord of the Rings fame is a huge Xbox fan and will host the MTV shows debuting the Xbox 360. Reports are that the unit may be white or silver. Whatever the case, this is a great marketing move on behalf of Microsoft, as I’m sure with MTV’s history, viewers will repeatedly be beaten over the head with info about how great the Xbox 360 is. When you think about it, this is huge for Microsoft. E3 information is pretty much relegated to Internet junkies and readers of gaming magazines. An MTV debut gives Microsoft an amazing mass-market showing to its most targeted audience.
Read More | BBC News
There’s a new phishing technique in use out there which involves blogs set up to steal information. Criminals are using blogs loaded with keylogging software or viruses to gather data on their victims. Dan Hubbard, research director of Websense, a filtering firm, says “The success of these attacks relies upon a certain level of social engineering to persuade the individual to click on the link.” With more than 8 million blogs out there, be careful. Keep your antivirus software up to date and scan for spyware regularly.
Read More | BBC News
Latest Gear Live Videos
It’s starting to get hard to keep up with these guys. Google has launched a video upload service, open to anyone and everyone, which seems like it will work with the Google Video indexing product.
The upload program lets you submit videos electronically to Google Video, as long as you own the necessary rights (including copyrights, trademarks, rights of publicity, and any other relevant rights for your content). Just sign up for an account and use our upload tool to send your videos to Google. The program is still in beta so you won’t see your videos live on Google Video immediately.
The best part - it looks like if your video gets approved, you can set a fee you would like to charge for others to view it. Obviously Google would get a chunk, but you still get your video out to the masses. Just incredible - imagine what this might do for independent film.
Read More | Google Video FAQ
Now this is funny - it seems that someone was able to hack into the computer that controls a digital construction warning sign on I-75 in Michigan. The sign was being used to update commuters on the construction status of the highway, but was changed to read “Speed limit 100 mph go go go.” Authorities say they are looking into who did it, and how they were able to do it. Maybe subcontracting things as important as highway signs isn’t the way to go.
Read More | i-hacked
If you are like me, then you enjoy gaming more than you enjoy hitting the gym. PowerGrid Fitness has introduced the Kilowatt gaming fitness system with the goal of helping its users get a full workout while gaming. It isn’t another one of those gaming bicycles either. The unit basically measures the force by which you push and pull on the controller, and works by resistance. It’s versatile too, as it’s compatible with Playstation, Xbox, Gamecube, PC, and Mac rigs - but they don’t come cheap. There are several different models, and it looks like the cheapest will run you about $800 USD.
Read More | PowerGrid Fitness
According to a Goldman Sachs analyst, Microsoft could be aiming to bring the Xbox 360 to the market for a lot less than the rumored $399 price tag. If they are to be believed, it appears that the next Xbox will hit the market within the $249-299 price range. What’s more, they expect the console to drop in October or November for the holiday season. Another note of interest is that they are saying that Microsoft will continue shipping the current Xbox console to support the lower end of the market. This could explain why they expect to continue developing current-gen games after the 360 launches.
Read More | Seattle PI
Back in January we discovered that George Bush is trendy enough to carry around an iPod. Today, we are happy to bring you a bit more info on the President’s digital audio listening preferences. Apparently, Dubya appreciates the country flair - no surprise being that he hails from Texas, right? As Rolling Stone’s Joe Levy puts it, “What we’re talking about is a lot of great artists from the ‘60s and ‘70s and more modern artists who sound like great artists from the ‘60s and ‘70s. This is basically boomer rock ‘n’ roll and more recent music out of Nashville made for boomers. It’s safe, it’s reliable, it’s loving. What I mean to say is, it’s feel-good music.” The unfortunate thing about all this is that Bush apparently has about 250 songs on his iPod. Why even own an iPod if that is all you plan to store on it? Just get a shuffle.
Read More | MediaInfo
Amazon has a couple of good deals where Mac OS X Tiger is concerned. You can pre-order Apple OS X Tiger for $94.99 after a $35 savings. If you have multiple Macs in the house, the OS X Tiger Family Pack covers five computers, and comes out to $150 after a $50 savings. You will need to fill out this form to get your money back. We know, rebates suck - but you just can’t beat this pricing, unless you qualify for the Mac OS X Up-to-Date program.
iPod Game Downloads From iPod Arcade
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Portable Audio / Video, Software,
If the few games that come preloaded onto the Apple iPod have worn thin in your eyes, iPod Arcade provides free game downloads for use exclusively on the Apple iPod. The downer here is that the coolest games like Pong, Othello, and Tetris are only available for third generation units. If you have a fourth generation iPod, you aren’t left out in the cold, but you are relegated to text games and stories. Still cool nonetheless. Hey Apple, how about some official iPod game updates?
Read More | iPod Arcade via TUAW
