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What do you think will be announced at BlizzCon 2007?
A joke thread over on the official forums started me wondering about this. What announcements might we see at BlizzCon next month? Personally, I'm expecting on the following: StarCraft 2: We know there will be a playable version there, but what else will we find out? Diablo 3: There have been rumors floating around the net about Diablo 3 for quite some time, and this would be the perfect opportunity for Blizzard to announce it. The upcoming MMO: Blizzard has hired some MMO developers specifically for a "next-gen" MMO (read: not World of Warcraft). Hopefully we'll get some juicy details on what they're working on! Movie(s): I hope to hear some more detail on the upcoming World of Warcraft movie, and perhaps confirmation to the rumored Diablo movie. The next expansion: I fully expect Blizzard to announce the next World of Warcraft expansion at BlizzCon this year -- though how many details they'll have we can only guess. But what do you expect (or hope!) to see at this year's event?
That's Entertainment! MGM in iTunes
Today Apple announced that MGM will sell its catalog of older films at the US iTunes store. To kick things off, "Dances With Wolves," "Mad Max," "The Great Train Robbery," and "Rocky" should be available for purchase some time today. More titles will be added during the coming weeks. (MGM owns the largest movie library in the world.) The movies will be distributed in the current "Near-DVD" resolution of 640x480, a fact which makes Apple TV owners cry. And ask why. Because if Apple were going to start offering High Def movies any time soon, why wouldn't they have MGM in on that announcement and make it an even bigger to do?
Want to write for Engadget?
Listen up: the Engadget Army is looking for fresh recruits, so we're issuing an open call for new writers. If you live and breathe gadgets, this is your chance to get paid to write about them (seriously, this is a paying gig!). Professional writing experience isn't critical (though it doesn't hurt); all we really care about is that you can write about gadgets with wit, concision, and authority. Right now we're looking to fill writing positions at: Engadget (East Coast editor, and night time and weekend contributing writers) Engadget HD (contributing writer) Engadget Mobile (contributing writer) You can apply for all three gigs if you like, but please send in a separate application for each.Here's what you need to send to apply: Three sample posts written in the Engadget style (make sure these are germane to the site you want to write for). These sample posts can be about whatever you want, but they should seem like they could have been written by one of our writers (but without all the typos and gross inaccuracies). A few words about yourself. If you're applying for Engadget, list three of your favorite gadgets of all time. If you're applying for Engadget HD, list your three favorite HD-related products. If you're applying for Engadget Mobile, list your three favorite cellphones. Your contact info. How much time per week you can commit to blogging. Be realistic, okay? Oh, and no attachments or resumes. We will only review fully complete applications. To apply to Engadget, please send us an email at jobsATengadgetDOTcom. To apply to Engadget HD, please send us an email at jobsATengadgethdDOTcom. To apply to Engadget Mobile, please send an email to us at jobsATengadgetmobileDOTcom.We usually get a lot of applications, so please give us some time to look stuff over, cool?
A Joystiq firmware update: new comment logins and site search
After countless firmware posts, it's always nice to bring you news of a Joystiq firmware update. We're calling this one the "Winter Update" and it includes not one, but two new features that have long been requested. First: comment logins. We know, our comment activation emails have long promised the ability to plug in a password to magically bypass the onerous activation system. Now, you can take that password and plug it into our new and improved comment field, bypassing onerous email activations forever! This password works on all Weblogs, Inc. sites including Joystiq's seven daughter sites and even our buddies over at Engadget.Second: we've also improved the stiq's long suffering search functionality. Multi-word search? No worries! We've got all your "wii injuries" right here. In fact, we're liking it so much, we recommend rolling your very own Joystiq Firefox Quick Search. We'll be fine tuning things based on user feedback (no, you can't change your password; yes, we're working on it), so be sure to let us know how everything works in the comments.[Big ups to our devs!]
Runco announces six new plasma models
Runco has announced details about not one, not three, but six new plasma models to be released before the end of November and ready for walls in time for Christmas. The SP-42, SP-50, and SP-60 all fall into Runco's CinemaWall line, and the SP-42HD, SP-50HD, and SP-60HD are in the PlasmaWall product range. Plasma sizes include two each of 42-, 50-, and 60-inch models, all with the usual HDMI and audio/video inputs, 1000:1 contrast ratio, Vivix II image processing technology, and ISF certification for both day and night settings. The 42-inch models sport 1024 x 768-pixel resolution, with the larger two sizes having 1365 x 768 pixels. No word on the pricing, but we expect it to be within range of the other CinemaWall and PlasmaWall line of Runco displays.
Announcement: User Group Roundup
Do you help run an Apple-themed User Group? Do you have any upcoming December 2006 meetings or special events? Please let us know via our Tips form by the end of next week to be included in the TUAW December User Group social calendar. Send complete details about your meetings or events, including locations and directions as well as contact information. Special-interests groups such as Final Cut Pro or Developers are welcome as are more general Mac- or iPod-themed get-togethers. Looking for an Apple User Group in your area? Visit Apple's User Group locator page to search by state, zip code or country.
Live from Palm's Treo announcement at DigitalLife
Ready for the Treo 680? We're liveblogging the event from DigitalLife, so keep your fingers on that F5 button and follow along after the break...Update: Pics are up; keep reading for the the full text and images...
Say hello to my little Zune: official launch tomorrow
Okay folks, the moment you've all been waiting for is almost upon us (and by you all, we mean the .01% of you who don't already own an iPod or SanDisk DAP). We've already heard the name, seen the prototypes, got the lowdown on all of the features, and even peeped some blurry snaps of the GUI (not to mention the artist's renditions), and now the future of portable audio is about to be revealed. Tomorrow, we get the first official peek at the Toshiba 1089 Microsoft Zune. That's right, according to Seattle Weekly, the suits at Redmond are finally ready to unveil their closely-guarded (but not very secret) pet project to the world at an invite-only press event, where the WiFi-sportin', video-playin', friend-makin' Zune will have its first public appearance. To gauge the importance of this occasion, you need only search our archives for the word "Zune," where you'll find approximately one million posts covering every fact, rumor, and wild bit of speculation about this device -- it's even important enough to get an announcement post regarding the pending announcement. Since we already know so much, though, what can we really expect to learn at the press conference? Well we'll be looking out for the little things, such as codec and DRM support, definitive pricing and release information, whether or not Bill G will make an appearance in a black turtleneck, and most importantly, what kind of headphones will be bundled in the package -- oh wait, we know that too. Stay zuned, uh, we mean tuned...
Comments are back!
That's right, comments are back everybody! And we didn't leave you hanging for no good reason. We hope that week off of the comments will prevent those silly trolls and spammers from comin' round anymore. But since we know it won't, we have some new anti-spam systems on the backend, and a new feature for you guys to use: comment reporting. Next to everybody's comment, you'll see a little exclamation point. Click that, and the comment will be immediately reported to our staff. Please, only report offensive posts, or spam! We don't like spending our days at work looking at a bunch of falsely reported comments.We've also made a couple of changes: no more numbering comments (they just got way too confusing), and no more stars (we never turned 'em on anyway). However, the big news here is that Engadget is getting an entirely new comment system in a few weeks, so be on the lookout. We're expecting to finally provide persistent user profiles, advanced moderation, and other neat stuff we should have had, like, forever years ago. Thanks for your patience everybody, and happy commenting![Big ups to Gavin in our tech team!]
