I can say right now that I have never really needed to use the web browser on my PS3.  Maybe because I have other ways to access the net.  For those of you who rely on your PS3 web browser will find it interesting that reports are coming in about Sony potentially bringing FireFox to the PS3.

While no deal has been struck at this juncture, it is a nice nugget of hype for PS3 owners to mull over.  The forever question still exists:  Why is there no browser on the Xbox 360?

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Remember that supposed Splinter Cell Conviction promo code that was to be included inside the box of Assassin’s Creed 2?  According to game site CVG, and an Ubisoft spokesperson “The leaflet included in the Assassin’s Creed 2 boxes in the US does not relate to a Splinter Cell Conviction demo download. The leaflet is a US initiative and will not be available in other territories.”  In other words, it’s a promo to get fans of the Splinter Cell series like you and me to download wallpapers to our computer’s desktop and what Ubisoft probably hopes is a conversation going with our best buds to help promote the game.

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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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None Found

My buddy can really get engorged in gaming hype.  Especially when it comes to Sam Fisher related news.  Hopefully this nugget of hype will do something for him.

What we are hearing today is that when Assassin’s Creed 2 arrives tomorrow, there will be an exclusive demo voucher packed inside for Splinter Cell Conviction.

Splinter Cell Conviction has been a long time coming and this demo voucher is a smart way to get people reinvested in a franchise that’s trying to reinvent itself.  Hit us up tomorrow if you get this voucher and play the demo.

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According to MCV gaming site, Microsoft’s Project Natal will launch next November for as little as $80 (we heard $50 last month). The rumor also says that Microsoft will kick out a console bundle that includes the Natal camera and perhaps a few games to go along with it.  As of now 14 games are supposedly being readied from a variety of studios, while Microsoft is preparing 5 million unit for shipment during the initial launch.

Project Natal was announced at this year’s E3 and was received with mixed reactions from the gaming and gadget community.  The system uses a special camera to read your body gestures and objects, and then incorporates them into the game, providing a more engaging gaming experience, or that’s how the marketing material goes.  The Natal is Microsoft’s answer to the Wii, while Sony has their own version arriving early next year as well.

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According to an industry insider, Apple is in talks with many of the networks to deliver an all you can eat TV service via their iTunes software.  Users would pay $30 a month and be able to stream shows from an assortment of channels as long as they had Internet access.

While it would be difficult to supplant the cable companies over night due to their relationships and contracts with the networks, it is a feasible proposition since more and more channels are looking to take their content online.  Many news sources are pointing to Disney as the ginny pig since they already have close ties with Apple, but at this point it’s all just speculation.

Keep in mind that a rumor recently emerged stating that Hulu might be switching some of their content to a pay model, which actually throws this Apple rumor a curve ball because I doubt those two (Fox and NBC) would want to share revenue when they could be selling it direct.  Then again, since Apple’s iTunes has an install base of 65 million, it might just be feasible.

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And there’s yet another competitor throwing its hat into the steadily crowding e-reader arena (we get any more hats in there and we could open up a millenery shop!), but it’s not exactly from a source you’d expect.

Creative Labs is taking a run at the market, with a unit they’re calling the Zii MediaBook.  Now, this actually has some pretty choice add-ons with it, like a touchscreen, text to speech functionality (it will READ you a book) and an SD slot, plus, it will be “Internet-enabled”, though no one’s sure if it means 3G or WiFi.

Also on the unsure list are the Zii’s release date, its price structure and any content delivery methods, (pictures of the device were also in short supply) though word is Creative’s in talks with several different providers, and not just for books, either.  This could be one to watch…or Creative Labs could think better of it and stay out altogether.

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I’m interested because it’s a new business model in which the user doesn’t bear the communications cost.

Currently Nintendo DSi users can access the Nintendo store to download a variety of content via WiFi, but that requires that the user be within proximity of a signal and seriously hinders the purchase anytime, anywhere impulse.  Of course, this kind of delivery system would be implemented in the next generation of Nintendo DSes and would add some significant cost to the handheld device, something Nintendo may not be willing to do.

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Once again, Apple has blown us all away with its relentless flood of gadgetry, as a new patent has emerged.

It’s about what you’d get if you managed to combine an iPod Shuffle with a Bluetooth headset, and what it’s being called right now is a headset MP3 player.

You can see one of the patent design figures at left, but where this is amazing is that it can function on its own.  Yes, it functions as a wireless headset to a device it’s linked to, like a Bluetooth, but it also has the capability of storing its own MP3s within the headset itself.  And, as if that weren’t enough, your headset could also become a recording device at the touch of a button, allowing you to make your own MP3s of conversations you’re having.

These are all still somewhat speculative points, being as it’s still in the patent stages, but it’ll likely be another market-buster when it comes out.

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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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Talk about counting your chickens.  Assassin’s Creed 2 hasn’t even seen release and we are already hearing about a 3rd installment.  Will that many people blindly purchase this game like the did 2 years ago?

Not to be a naysayer, I want Ass2 to be a quality game but I won’t believe it until I play it.  A German gaming show named PLAYD had Ubisoft’s Philippe Bergeron on the program who said in regards to a possible Assassin’s Creed 3 setting:

There are two things that come to mind: There is medieval Europe, which would be very interesting trying to play a King Arthur story line. Another one that is a personal favorite of a lot of people on the floor is feudal Japan, which is something that would be very interesting just culturally to discover and I think also to make players discover as well.

Huh.  I don’t know which one would be cooler.  What do you think?

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If the Xbox 360 is going to make it to 2015, Microsoft better have definite plans to get Blu-Ray compatibility on board on the ASAP.  In a recent interview with Gizmodo, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer is quoted saying that we will “soon” be able to watch Blu-Ray movies on the Xbox 360.

The CEO had expressed that an external Blu-Ray drive would be the best way to get the format on the 360.  I bet it looks identical to ill fated HD DVD drive from a few years back.

At the moment however, Ballmer seems to think that there is enough HD content via streaming sources (NetFlix and the upcoming Zune Video) to keep the masses happy.  Are we happy?

How about that web browser?

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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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Rumors are creeping around that the best part about Microsoft’s upcoming Project Natal will be its price point.  Right now we are hearing that it will go on sale for $50.  Sounds oddly cheap to me.

Will it be bundled with any Natal-style launch titles?

In other related motion controlled gaming rumors, Sony’s “Sphere” is rumored to be priced at $100.  Industry analysts predict that while the Natal is more of an ancillary peripheral in Microsoft’s mind, the Sphere is being looked at as more of a Wii challenger.

In either case, time will tell the true price points soon enough.

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Well folks, a new bit of data has emerged about the idea of cell phones and brain tumors.

Seems that Environmental Working Group released data just recently that detailed just how much radiation you’re sucking up when you’re on the phone.  And then the Los Angeles Times followed that up with a strange study.  Check this out:  when the data from 23 studies was pooled together, there was no conclusive link between brain tumors and cell phone use.  This by itself would be interesting if not necessarily newsworthy, but when the Times jiggered the evidence a bit, comparing data from the “eight strongest studies”, they found out that cell phone users had between a 10 and 30 percent higher chance of getting tumors, with the more time spent on the phone being higher risk than those who spent less.

And then, here’s the weirdest point: seven out of eight of those “strongest studies” were all conducted by the SAME GUY IN SWEDEN.

So it’s not really time to freak out yet, but it’s probably a good idea to get that hands-free gear out, just in case.

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Is T-Mobile about to take the wraps off some game changing technology?  This blogger thinks not, but according to an inside source close to the story, T-Mobile is working on something called Project Dark, which sounds more CIA espionage than come back story.

The tipster, whose calling himself Mr. T, says T-Mobile will offer some sort of ‘all inclusive package’ that provides network speeds that are 3x faster than any other US carrier.  All things considered, T-Mobile has been fastidiously working to update their dated and slow 2G network to 3G, so it’s not all that implausible that they’d have something like this up their sleeve.  Furthermore, the source also claims that T-Mobile has plans to provide top of the line handsets from the #1 (Nokia) and #2 (Samsung) handset manufactures.

So will T-Mobile eclipse Sprint’s all you can eat plan?  Maybe, but they still have the worst coverage in the US.

All the employees who received the information were required to sign confidentiality agreements. Each sector has received it at different times, the bulk of them actually received it the 13th, after most of the information was already leaked (Although it’s not entirely accurate…)

That said, the Project Dark is not any ONE thing..its a term for a company TURNAROUND; Last to First is what some like to say. It’s an all inclusive “package” that includes blazing speeds, 3 times faster than anyone will have on the market for years. Phones people actually WANT, using top of the line models from the top 2 cellphone manufacturers in the world (Nokia #1, and Samsung #2). Hot software like Android. And European priced packages.

And all of this will make Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint’s head spin when its released faster than anyone can have time to finishing reading any official press releases.

330 Million in new networks Verizon? Try nearly 10 billion.

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Even though the Nintendo DSi was released this year, rumors are surfacing that Nintendo is gearing up to produce a more powerful portable system in 2010.  For purposes of this article, the DS2 we’ll call it, will receive some new processing power thanks to the Zune HD and Nvidia Tegra Chips (sounds organic doesn’t it).

Nothing has been confirmed obviously but you’d be a complete sucker to buy a DSi now.  The above concept picture looks pretty tight but we’ll have to wait and see what develops.

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Looks like perhaps EA wants to get in on this whole Modern Warfare madness.  Isn’t that what Battlefield: Bad Company is?  Good thing for EA that Activision doesn’t have an exclusive Modern Combat license right!

The rumblings going around consist of an ex-EA production intern from 2008 posting somewhere that he worked on a Medal of Honor: Modern Combat title doing some design and software engineering.  Blah.  Other rumor blurbs include a possible real life tie-in to the game via Operation Anaconda, which was an actual mission held in Afghanistan from back in 2002.

The only thing that is confirmed is that there is another “undefined” Medal of Honor game in the works according to EA CEO John Riccitiello.  The last game in the Medal of Honor series was Airborne from 2007.

All this makes sense, but we’ll have to wait and see what rises to the top.

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At this point its anyone’s guess to when and if the ‘iPad’ or ‘iTouch‘ computer will ever hit the market.  Okay, it’s probably not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when’.  Now iLounge says they’ve got the scoop on the touch screen computer from an insider that “correctly called the iPod nano 5G, iPhone 3GS and Chinese iPhone 3G months ago.”.

Apparently a 7-inch version was in the works, but that was scrapped in favor of a 10-inch version.  As previous rumors have stated, the iPad will run the iPhone OS, or a variation there of and include a similar form factor (hence the pic above).  Despite many rumors denouncing 3G connectivity, iLounge’s source says they’ll be two versions: one with and one without, analogous to the iPhone and iPod Touch.  As expected the screen’s resolution will be much higher than the iPhone and will enable users to read magazines and books in addition to full blown web pages.

Drum roll please….apparently Curpentino will announce the tablet like computer on or before January 19th of next year and will start shipping in May or June of that year. Typically the summer months are the lull for the consumer and tech industry, but this might align them for back to school, although I can’t imagine this is a device parents and grad student would spring for.  So as for launch date I’m gonna say they’ve got it wrong.  Either Apple needs to announce their next wonder device in a few weeks time or wait until summer of next year and launch it for the 2010 holidays.

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In what smells to be a heaping pile of malarky,  Epic Games is saying that Gears of War 3 “may” or “might” appear on next generation consoles.  Only really citing their upcoming Unreal 4 engine as a reason, this seems really lame to me.

Since next-gen hardware is still 4-5 years off, people will either have long forgotten Gears of War or have harbored such a massive grudge that they will boycott the game entirely, and then play it.  Either way I think that Epic Games owes it to the Xbox 360 to release Gears of War 3 within its life span.

There has got to be some other issues going on that we don’t know about and this is some unfortunate “news” indeed.  Just a short while back Cliffy B was touting new RPG like features to be implemented into Gears 3.  Booo!  Anybody else?

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