According to leaked screenshot, Microsoft is planning on providing a firmware update to the Xbox 360 that will enable gamers to utilize an external USB mass storage drive for gaming and not just movies/music/etc.  The update will support partitioned drives in addition to “DLC, XBLA titles, games on demand and general game updates”.  But is Microsoft stupid enough to negate their 120GB hard drive, such as the one found in the Pro (was Elite) system?  Nope.  It looks like you can only share up to 16GB of stored Xbox 360 date on an external drive.  The drive must also be at least 1GB in capacity, since the Xbox formatting/partitioning uses 512mb of space.  Also what is not clear, is if copying games to the hard drive will be supported, though a quote from the source (below) seems to indicate so.

USB storage devices may, however, have far greater memory capacity than MUs (at the date of writing, the largest MU is 512 MB), and may therefore support previously infeasible operations-such as installation of a full disc-based title.

But, before thoughts of wielding more than USB drive pop into your head, forget about it.  Apparently, the update will only support up to two external storage devices.  Very weak!  Why wouldn’t Xbox 360 make it unlimitless and use that as a marketing angle against the PS3?

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When Disney released the trailer for ‘Tron: Legacy‘ last summer, I must have watched it 10 times, no joke.  Unfortunately, at the time the story was unclear.  Here to clear things up, despite the quality being crappy (update: official HD trailer added), is the next trailer, leaked.

Apparently, Jeff Bridges has been stuck inside the Tron game for 20 odd years. His son, who we assume has never met him goes looking for him after his father’s friend receives a phone call from Flynn’s arcade even though the telephone number has been disconnected since the original movie.

[via Giantfreakinrobot]

Word is born!  Motorola’s Devour will hit the “indirect channel” retail outlets in blurring fury on February 25th.  After that VZW’s retail outlets will pick up the phone on March 15th.  There still mention of price, but a few hundos might be in order, even though BGR is reporting $99 as the magical price point.

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Now here’s an exciting picture for you, folks–what you’re seeing right there is a shot of the Google Phone, the Nexus One. Pics of this thing have been leaking like a sieve to the web at large and initial reports are conflicting at best.

Google employees, of course, are operating under STRICT agreements not to talk specs–if they actually say anything even related to specs their firstborn children vanish in a puff of smoke, and if they don’t have any children, well, something ELSE vanishes instead.  Okay, that’s just a joke, but still–the Google crew may be contractually forbidden from saying word one, but that didn’t stop the blogosphere!  In fact, a San Francisco blogger named Cory O’ Brien got one of these fellas and clames that it’s basically an iPhone but with a slightly larger screen and a scroll wheel.  PC World, however, was underwhelmed.

And naturally, the whole thing runs on Google’s own OS, Android.  Admittedly that was pretty much a given, but still.  Look for this one to launch possibly in 2010, and keep it here for all the latest details on the Nexus One!

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Have you ever left the house or the apartment, and been struck by the sudden horror that you didn’t turn off your stove or your toaster or your television or whatever?  Yeah, I’ve been there too once or twice.  And I know some people who’ve made an entire psychological disorder out of something like that.

Well, there’s a new gadget, currently in the prototype stage, called the PowerZoa.  The PowerZoa can be used to remotely cut power to any gadget plugged into an outlet.  Everything from your stove to your toaster can be suddenly, remotely, disabled.  The PowerZoa transmits details on power use to a secure website, which you can log into to remotely disable your gadgets.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that such a gadget could be used against you, but even so, what happens?  You unplug the PowerZoa and replug your appliance back into the wall.  For people who worry about leaving things on, this is a great device.

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All right, folks, brace yourselves–Best Buy just leaked its Black Friday deals, even though at this point they’re a little behind the curve;  Sears and Office Depot had theirs out weeks ago.  But given as it’s still about a week and a half out from Black Friday, there’s still plenty of time to call this a leak.

And what they’ve got is pretty interesting, too–check out this list!  There are a LOT of items for sale here, so I’m just going to cherry pick some of the better ones.  The read link will have a bigger list on hand.

• HP Desktop AMD X4 Quad Core, 8GB Memory, 1TB Hard Drive w/20” Monitor, HP Deskjet DJ350 Color Printer & Windows 7 Home Premium – $499.97
• Sony 15” Laptop w/Intel Dual Core Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD, Windows 7, Sony Headphones, Built-In Blu-ray, Blu-ray Movie – $479.97
• Sony DCR-SX40 Handycam Camcorder – $199.99
• Samsung 5.1 Channel 1000W Home Theater System With Blu-ray Disc Player – $399.99
• Sony PlayStation 3 Package w/120GB Console, Little Big Planet, and Ratchet And Clank – $299.99

Sounds like enough to get you out of your post-holiday turkey coma, doesn’t it?

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Like a sinking ship, Black Friday deals are beginning to leak out all over the Web.  Today Kmart’s ‘Blue Friday’ deals slipped out.

Cell Phones

TracFone LG Bluetooth Camera Flip Phone – $19.99

Wireless Bluetooth Headset – $7.99

Computers

Delstar 7 Inch Wireless Netbook 05 Windows CE – $119.99 *

Digital Cameras

Kodak CD80 Digital Camera Bundle – $79.99

Samsung SL40 Digitial Camera – $79.99 *

Sony W180 Digital Camera – $99.99

DVD Players

Magnavox DVD Player w/VCR – $49.99

Memorex 1080P HDMI Upconvert DVD Player – $29.99

Sylvania 7 Inch Portable DVD Player – $49.99 *

Electronics

Cobra Radar Detector – $29.99 *

Cobra Two Way Radio Pair – $19.99 *

Coby 7 Inch Digital Picture Frame – $29.99 *

Emerson 3-Handset DECT Phone Bundle – $39.99

GPX 2.1 Channel DVD Home Theater System – $39.99

iHome Dock – $9.99

iHome PC Accessories – $9.99

Jazz T20 Camcorder – $19.99

Phillips 4-Device Remote Control – $9.99

SmartPants 8.5″ Digital Photo Frame – $49.99

Sony Earbuds – $4.99

Games & Hobbies

48″ Air Powered Hockey Table With Electronic Scoring – $39.99 *

Bowlercade With Electronic Ball Return And Scoring – $59.99 *

GPS Navigation Systems

Magellan Roadmate 1220 GPS Navigation System – $84.99 *

TomTom ONE 130 GPS – $79.99

TomTom XL325S GPS Navigation System – $99.99

MP3 Players

Element 2GB Stick MP3 Player – $9.99 *

Sylvania 4GB MP3 Player – $19.99

Televisions

Element 26″ LCD HDTV – $249.99

Panasonic 42″ 720 Plasma TV – $549.99

Sony Bravia L Series 32″ Class 720p LCD HDTV (Model KDL32L504) – $379.99 *

Video Games

$25 Nintendo Gaming Coupon w/Any DS System Purchase – $0.00

Brutal Legend For PS3 – $39.99

Brutal Legend For XBox 360 – $39.99

Dirt 2 (PS3) – $39.99

Dirt 2 (Xbox 360) – $39.99

Dragon Age For PS3 – $39.99

Dragon Age For XBox 360 – $39.99

for PS3 – $199.99

Halo 3 OSDT – $39.99

High School Musical 3 Dance Bundle – $9.99

Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360) – $39.99

Nintendo DSi Bundle w/5 Pre-Installed Games – $169.99 *

Nintendo Wii – $199.99 [Uh, isn't this the everyday price?]

Rock Band 2 Special Edition (XBox 360) – $99.99

Sandisk 4GB SD Card – $8.99

Select Wii Games – $9.99

Select Wii Games – $29.99

Value Video Games – $14.99

WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2010 PS3 – $39.99

XBox 360 Elite Bundle w/Halo 3 OSDT – $299.99

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As we draw closer to holiday shopping time we are seeing more and more Black Friday deals revealed.  And while many of those have been issued from the retailer themselves, Walmart looks to be holding out a bit longer, that it until today when an ‘off the chain’ Xbox 360 deal was leaked out.

According to the above screen shot the ‘Rollback’ retailer will be selling an Xbox 360 Arcade console for $199 with a $100 gift card, which essentially brings the total price to $99 (plus tax).  The only thing that doesn’t make sense is that it says ‘weekly events – week 41′.  The problem with that is that we’re already in week 42 of the year, but let’s hope they’re working off a fiscal calendar.

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Just when Motorola delivers a break through product, up pops HTC rearing their not so ugly head.  Set to launch on the same day as the DROID is the ‘DROID’ Eris, which is essentially a rebranded Hero handset.  The ‘DROID’ Eris name possibly has something to do with some sort of weird Verizon branding, but if I were Motorola I’d be up in arms.

Specs for the handset include a 3.2-inch touchscreen, WiFi, virtual QWERTY keyboard, 5 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headphone jack and all that HTC jazz we’ve come to expect.

The ‘DROID’ Eris will set you back $199 after a $100 mail-in-rebate and 2-year contract signing.

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Does the Apple tablet PC actually exist?  The current answer is, no one’s really sure except possibly for New York Times executive editor Bill Killer.

His recent referral to an “impending Apple slate” has captured the imaginations of the gadget world, and gadget blogs all over began trumpeting what Apple buffs had figured was coming for some time now, the official announcement of the Apple Tablet PC.

Needless to say, that announcement has not hit, and Bill Keller is keeping mum about the whole business in general.  This isn’t the first time Apple gadget news has left someone with egg on their face–the Financial Times was convinced that the Apple tablet would hit in September.  And with Bill Keller stonewalling (when asked if he had more information, all he would say was “I’m not sayin’.”), who knows what anybody knows or doesn’t know any more?

But that’s half the fun of rumors, isn’t it?

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While I can’t predict the weather, one thing is for sure: a storm is on the way. To be more specific the Storm 2 from RIM. Yup, they’re releasing the second iteration of the device on October 28th, at least according to some leaked documentation. This is supposed to be the launch day of Motorola’s Droid…

To continue reading “Gadget Leak: Storm 2 Launching October 28th For $179.99″ head to PhoneDig

We still don’t know much about T-Mobile’s Project Dark, but I guess that sort of explains the chosen name. Now, thanks to a leaked add (pictured above) it looks like T-Mobile will have 2 unlimited plans to choose from, although it’s far from clear what those will be.

My best guess is that the ‘Even More’ plan applies to any phone of your choosing, while the ‘Even More Plus Plan’ provides you with same unlimited plan, but provides a…

Update: Looks like the plans have been leaked.  Hit the below link for more info.

To continue reading “Gadget Leak: T-Mobile Project Dark Ad Gets Leaked, 2 Unlimited Plans To Emerge” head to PhoneDig

A new rumor has burst onto the scene out of the Kodak company, and everyone’s frantically trying to figure out just what exactly it is.  A “highly placed source” has promised that Kodak’s got something really big planned for the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show this January in Las Vegas, but what exactly it is, no one’s sure.

In fact, the only piece of solid data involved is that it’ll be bowing right alongside the successor to the current Kodak Zi8 pocket camcorder.

Possibilities at this point could be most anything–a storage device, a new DVD burner that works with the Zi8’s successor, anything.  In fact, this could be little more than a giant pot of smoke and mirrors designed to give Kodak free publicity by having gadget bloggers like us endlessly try to play guessing games about what it’ll actually be until CES hits.

I guess either way, we’ll have to wait for CES to find out how this one finally boils out.

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Today we’re talking about the new gotta-have-it watch, a watch that has all the performance of an MP3 player, but also a cool blue, almost holographic, face that screams “gadget buff”.

The Tick Tack Music Watch is like a wearable MP3, complete with a headphone jack and a set of tiny earbuds included.  It’s still in the concept stages right now, so you can call this a bit of a leak, and so there’s also not a lot of details about storage capacity or battery life or even price data just yet.

While I like the thought of an MP3 player in a wristwatch, I really have to wonder if this will go over that big when put alongside the likes of an iPod.  IPods really aren’t that much bigger than a wristwatch, and they probably hold more songs and deliver better quality audio, too.  But time will tell, as it so often does, so stay tuned.

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Pictured above is supposedly Barnes and Noble’s e-reader.  While specs and a wireless carrier have yet to be announced, or leaked in this case, rumor has it that it has an e-ink display on the top 3/4 of the device for reading magazines and books, while the lower quarter is a color LCD screen that will not only be good for perusing book covers but will double as a touchscreen keyboard or mutlitouch surface. 

Perhaps a 3G carrier isn’t in the works and that’s why they now offer free WiFi at all their locations.

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Playing Road Rash many years ago, I can still clearly remember how violently visceral it was.  Smashing people in the face at high speeds with chains couldn’t easily be outdone in those days.

With brutal violence playing a major role in today’s video games, I had recently played Road Rash 1, 2, and 3 through the Sega Genesis Collection for the PSP and can say that they seemed pretty tame at best.

While nothing is confirming the video exactly, it looks awesome and the sense of speed is really captured to great effect.  I’m hoping we soon see a leak of a new Desert/Jungle/Soviet/Nuclear/Future Strike game!

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Gateway has become a pretty small gang member in the laptop turf wars, but that doesn’t mean the company is devoid of leaks and what I dare say is anticipation.  There’s no official word as of yet, but according to a tipster this is their soon to be announced tablet PC, called the EC18T.  Specs wise were looking at an 11.6-inch LCD, Intel Core2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, Mobile Intel GS45 Express graphics chipset, and either Windows 7 Basic or Premium. 

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Not a week can go by with out some Apple news bubbling to the top of the rumor pot.  Engadget uncovered an FCC filing that depicts a brand new Apple Bluetooth keyboard that is smaller than the current versions and a mightier Mighty Mouse.  Unfortunately, details are few and far between, but with rumors floating around of a new iMac set to hit the market this just all seems to be affirmation of their impending arrival.  Even more interesting is that Apple modified the images for the FCC filing after these documents were discovered, which only lends greater credence to everything I just said.

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I really liked the first Dead Space.  I even watched the animated prequel on Blu-Ray.  It had decent pacing, some really cool and brutally violent weapons, and atmospheric graphics and sound design.  Most reviews I had read said it had taken the true survival horror reigns from RE5 which had somehow turned into an action game.  While I think I knew about an inherent sequel given the outcome of the original game, this is the first I’m hearing about it on the web.

This info was leaked though a LinkedIn Job Posting by Visceral Games looking for a lead combat designer.  Oops!  Apparently in the later stages of pre-production, the core team from the first game is working diligently to improve what was already an awesome game.  With the essential gameplay and navigational mechanics in place the game should start to see production in the coming months.  The game is being developed for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

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It looks like Verizon is set to launch yet another HTC phone, yet this one, the HTC XV6975 Imagio, lacks a physical QWERTY keyboard. While price and actual launch date are still unknown, specs wise were looking at a 3.6-inch touchscreen, Windows Mobile 6.5, microSD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, 528mhz processor of some sort, 5mp autofocus camera, WiFi…

To continue reading “Gadget Leak: Verizon HTC’s XV6975 Imagio” checkout PhoneDig