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Jumpin' Jehosephat, we're three!
Three years ago, mobile phones were but a twinkle in a handful of Motorola and Bell Labs engineers' eyes. The United States was steeped in civil war, Napoleon Bonaparte was gallivanting through Europe, and Julius Caesar had just been brutally betrayed by his most trusted comrades. Yes, it was a crazy time to be alive -- so crazy, in fact, that our dear parents at Engadget saw fit to spin off the choicest, juiciest cuts of phone news into a site to call their own. That site, of course, was Engadget Mobile -- and to this very day, our goal and mission is as clear and unwavering as it ever has been: keep you in the know.Here's the thing, though: we know that we'd be nothing without you, our dear readers. You build us up, tear us down, keep us in check, and tip us with some seriously good stuff. That kind of dedication shouldn't go unappreciated, you know? So, on that note, we want to give out a really cool phone -- read on![Image credit hashmil]
Happy 25th Birthday, Mac!
All of the bloggers at TUAW write about Apple and Apple products for one reason: we love Apple products. For most of us, our first Apple was a Mac (although some of us are indeed old enough to have owned the Apple II). 25 years ago today, Steven P. Jobs stood in front of a packed house and had a Macintosh Model M0001 introduce itself to the world: Over the past quarter century, hundreds of millions of people have fallen in love with the Mac. Read on to hear some personal stories about Macs we have known through the years, and be sure to leave your own memories of your first Mac in the comments section.
25 Years of Macintosh in photos
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3LCD celebrates a score, and by score we mean 20 years
Here lately, the aura of 3LCD has been somewhat overshadowed by the glitz and glam that seems to be intrinsically connected to DLP projectors, LCoS beamers and those other "new technologies." But regardless of the star factor, 3LCD has managed to hang around in a perpetually changing industry for 20 years now. Way back in 1988, the very first 3LCD projector started to ship with Kodak and Epson behind the wheel, and it took until 1994 for a 3LCD VGA PJ to see the light of day. 'Course, we all know what happened from there, but if you're the nostalgic type, head on past the break for a tear-jerking time line.
AT&T's U-verse survives a year in Columbus, Ohio
Yeah, we said it -- survived. Columbus is one of the toughest markets to be a pay-TV provider in, as you've got competitors coming from pretty much every angle. That said, AT&T has managed to grow its U-verse TV business in the Ohio city over the past year, as it is now available to over 50 communities in the area. Interestingly, the operator doesn't take the time to brag about exactly how many consumers it has here, but we're betting it's a bit less than most regions simply due to the plethora of other options. At any rate, here's your birthday card AT&T, and no, there's no money tucked away after the break.
Satellite TV turns 20 in the UK
You know, we could just aimlessly fire off unnecessary congratulatory remarks about the 20th birthday of satellite TV in the UK, but instead, we'll use this as a launching point for somewhat of a rant. A score ago, the ASTRA A1 lifted off in order to eventually provide direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV service to "small" dishes across Europe. Today, we're simply baffled and appalled by the lack of progress. 20 years later, Americans can tune into well over 100 linear high-def channels via satellite, yet Europeans are still wondering if HD is just a figment of someone's imagination. What gives, Europe? Why the refusal to provide your people with the next level in quality programming? The source content is already out there, and we're sure DISH Network and DirecTV would be happy to share contact information if need be. We're happy for your 20 year party and all, but who throws a shindig in 2008 without at least a few dozen high-def stations on tap?
Log into World of Warcraft tomorrow for free achievement and pet!
We've got a hot tip directly from WoW Insider for you this morning. If you've got a currently active World of Warcraft account, and there's any way at all you can spare the time tomorrow to log in, do it! Tomorrow is WoW's fourth birthday, and Blizzard is handing out some presents for all the players logging in on this auspicious occasion! Simply logging your character into World of Warcraft tomorrow will net you an achievement and an in-game pet. The pet is the cutie-patootie shown above, a "Baby Blizzard Bear".The achievement is a one-of-a-kind can't-get-it-any-other-way feat of strength achievement. Other achievements handed out for this include other date-based events, things players will never be able to get again. So, if you want to add another one of these once-in-a-lifetime notches to your belt, make sure to log in tomorrow! Oh, and Happy Birthday World of Warcraft!
Happy second birthday to the Nintendo Wii
Well, we extended the courtesy to the PS3 on its special day, so it seems only fair that Nintendo's little guy should get his own day in the sun. Two years ago today you either discovered that you really could have fun flailing around looking like a dork or, if you're a senior citizen, discovered that video games had been invented.In those two years the Wii has carved its own niche, bridging gaps between different gaming audiences and (occasionally) leaving some feeling left out of the fun. What do you think of the first 24 months and what are you looking for in the Wii's next 12?
Win a LBP Prize Crown by creating a birthday level
Want to win a limited edition (virtual) item that almost no one else will be able to get? Well, here's your chance. To celebrate PS3's second birthday, Sony is challenging LBP players to create a level celebrating two years of Sony's black box. The rules are simple, but you must create your level by December 9th. Then, LBP community members will vote on their favorites.Here are the rules: 1. Create an original LittleBigPlanet level celebrating the PLAYSTATION 3 second anniversary. 2. You must name your Level using this format. "LBC1 -< YourLevelNameHere >". 3. Publish your Level to the LittleBigPlanet online server at any time up until 11:59am PST December 9, 2008 when the contest closes. 4. Send an e-mail submission to community_support@playstation.sony.com and indicate your level name (LBC1 - < YourLevelNameHere >) in the subject line. Include your PlayStation Network ID along with the name of your Level in your e-mail submission. Good luck!
AT&T checks off a year of U-verse in Central Texas
AT&T and Texas are already BFFs, so it's no shock to see the carrier proudly recognizing its 1-year U-verse anniversary in the Central region. While most Americans wait patiently for the fiber-based services to roll around to their neck of the woods, some 275,000 living units in Central Texas can now dial up AT&T for their digital phone, high-speed internet and HDTV programming needs. As of today, the service is available in parts of Austin, Cedar Park, Leander, Pflugerville, Round Rock, Sunset Valley and West Lake Hills, and of course, there are always plans to expand that in the future. Sorry to wear our envy on our sleeves, but just take your victory and enjoy it quietly, okay Texas?
Thanks for all the Birthday well-wishes!
Many thanks to everyone that participated in Massively's First Birthday giveaways! We had over a dozen giveaway posts, hundreds of prizes, and thousands of commenters - a darn successful party, if this blogger says so himself. As of this morning the last giveaways closed, so you're going to have to wait a bit before you can participate again. Thankfully you won't have to wait too long; we'll be joining WoW Insider in doing Wrath of the Lich King giveaways on launch day! Make sure to check those out.For those of you that entered, we're going to need to ask for a little patience. We've got to randomly choose winners for every giveaway, combing through our thousands of comments. Prizes should start shipping out to winners starting late this week, and many winners will find that their prizes can arrive by email. That makes everyone happy! Thanks again to everyone that participated, and we hope you'll stay with us for another year of MMO news at Massively.com.
Happy Birthday EverQuest II
Tomorrow (Saturday the 8th) is the fourth anniversary of the launch of SOE's flagship product EverQuest II! It's been a long road over four very different expansions, with The Shadow Odyssey due just over a week away from now. Even just the changes wrought in patches - everything from epic weapons to an all-new race - are something to be proud of. Tomorrow for the game's fourth birthday proper, the community team is throwing in-game bashes across all the servers!The official Players site has all the details, and it looks like most in-game parties will be happening at 5pm PST / 8pm EST. Check their full server listing to see what time your party is at, and then hit up Kiara, Amnerys or Grimwell for an invite. Make sure to tell em' Massively sent you!
Massively.com's Giveaway week Master List
We warned you. We told you we had a lot of stuff to give away. Even we, though, are marveling at the sheer amount of swag we have on offer this week. This right here is the Massively.com give away Master List. We'll put up a link on the sidebar to this list that'll be up all week (and into next ... shh), and every single giveaway we do will be connected through here. All you need to do is come back to this post at the end of each day to find the links you'll need to enter.Entering couldn't be easier - just leave a comment on the post with the swag you want. You can enter into each and every contest we run this week, if you want to! Winners are chosen completely randomly from commenters. If you do win, we'll need to ask you for a street address and phone number. Contests are only open to folks 18 or older that are not already employees of Weblogs, Inc. The contest is also open to Canadians ... excluding Quebec. Francophones Désolés! With all that said ... read on for the master list of MMO giveaways! Happy Birthday, Massively!
AT&T celebrates a year of U-verse in Connecticut
Huzzah! AT&T has made it a full twelve months in the great state of Connecticut, and it's out to make sure you recognize that fact. Since being granted a certificate of video franchise authority around this time last year, the provider has strung its U-verse services to "approximately half of the municipalities" in the Constitution State. Just recently, it also brought along Total Home DVR to the customers here, and while it vows to continually expand its services in due time, there's no birthday mention of new communities getting any fiber-based presents. Talk about a lame party.
The Best of Massively: Our five all-time greatest hits
Our first birthday is this weekend and we're very excited -- so excited that we're giving away tons of stuff with reckless abandon. As you know, we've been leading up to it for the past month by listing our best work in the Best of Massively series. Well, folks, this is the last episode! We're wrapping it up by presenting what are arguably your favorites -- our five most viewed featured articles ever! Three of these are top five articles, so we're three-fifths of the way to making a top five top fives list, it would seem. The numbers don't lie, though, so enjoy, and tune in Sunday for the first giveaways! Click to start >> %Gallery-35800%
Happy 7th Birthday, iPod!
%Gallery-35146%It's hard to believe that 7 years have passed since Steve took the stage and introduced our friend, the iPod. Over the past few years, the iPod has gone from new guy on the block to "funnest" guy on the block. While the basic design hasn't changed much (for the Classic model at least), the features definitely have. When the iPod launched in 2001, it was basically a FireWire-capable hard drive and MP3 player -- nothing more, nothing less.The first iPod sold for $399 for a 5GB version (which was Mac-only). Apple later came out with a 10GB version of the same iPod for $499. Here's some fun facts about the first iPod via Mactracker: Codename: Dulcimer Dimensions: 4.02" H x 2.43" W x 0.78" D Weight: 0.41 lbs. iPod OS: version 1.0, upgradeable to 1.5 Introduced: October 2001 Terminated: April 2003 Hard Drive: 4200 RPM in capacities of 5/10/20 GB To celebrate the iPod's birthday, we have created a gallery to show the many changes over the years. If you want to brush-up on your iPod trivia, check out Wikipedia's iPod page. If you have any happy (or unhappy) memories of the iPod, be sure to reminisce in the comments.%Poll-21315%
Today the MUD and the MMO turn 30
Today marks the 30th birthday of the original MUD, created at Essex University by Roy Trubshaw in 1978. We recommend you check out what Richard Bartle -- who worked on later iterations of the project -- has to say about this event, as well as Raph Koster's words on the subject. The question at hand, as presented by Bartle, seems to be: does this matter?While he is skeptical, we would like to posit that it does matter a great deal -- or at least that it should. Graphics alone shouldn't lead to a strong distinction when the fundamentals are the same, so let's consider the modern MMO to be part of the same tradition as the MUD -- let's say that this is the MMO's 30th birthday too.
AT&T celebrates one year of U-verse in Ohio, promises further expansion
AT&T has made a habit of patting itself on the posterior whenever it reaches the one-year mark in U-verse deployment at a certain locale, but given that it also took the time to reiterate its $500 million investment in Ohio this go 'round, we figured we'd let you toss on a party hat and join in. Over the past year, U-verse TV has been made available to 600,000 living units in Ohio, and according to the company, it's planning to "invest in fiber network upgrades and further broadband deployment" across the state. As it stands, U-verse is available in parts of nearly 200 Ohio communities -- let's see how much that number changes over the next 12 months, shall we?
Celebrating Bilbo's birthday in LotRO
Today is both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' birthday, and to celebrate, Turbine has reinstated the Belated Birthday quest in Lord of the Rings Online. This quest is basically a way for Bilbo and Frodo to get you to deliver their presents to each other, but you get a nifty little musical cracker as a reward.As you may remember from the books (or heaven-forbid, the movies), this day is the beginning of Bilbo's disappearance from The Shire , so this is a big deal to many of the game's lore buffs and role-players. Even if you're not a fan of the lore though, this quest only happens once a year. It's available to those level 43 and above, and begins in The Last Homely House of Rivendell. Simply run over to Bilbo's Room inside the House and follow Frodo's instructions.
Integrated circuit turns 50, now isn't that nifty?
Hard to believe that Jack Kilby's unsightly concoction (pictured above) turned 50 yesterday, but it's true. Half a century ago, Mr. Kilby crafted the integrated circuit, which ended up having a monumental impact on taking computers from warehouse-sized to, well, not-warehouse-sized. As the story goes, the very first microchip was demonstrated on the 12th of September in 1958, and it passed its first test: "producing a sine wave on an oscilloscope screen." Safe to say we all know how things progressed from there. Here's to you, IC -- and here's to 50 more.[Via MAKE]
