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Rock Band drops full set list, minus bonus tracks
While many of you play Guitar Hero III at this very moment, there's a set of virtual rockers waiting a little more than a month to blister their fingers -- those souls awaiting the MTV Games/Harmonix joint, Rock Band. Releasing on November 20, the wait becomes harder and harder with each 30 second clip released of the individual songs.To at least know what you're getting, Harmonix dropped the full set list off in our inbox this morning, and we're more than happy to share it with you. The list includes 45 out of the 58 tracks, with the unlockable tracks omitted for obvious reasons. So what are you waiting for? Hit that jump!
Lenovo's Y410: their first consumer laptop hits the big box
US netizens can now call dibs on Lenovo's 3000 Y410 laptop for the home. That's right, a consumer laptop -- their first for the US market. Released without fanfare, the new 14.1-inch glossy 1,280 x 800 model starts at about $700 depending upon the configuration you track down at your local big box -- another first for Lenovo. That gets you a 1.46GHz Pentium Dual Core T2310 proc, 1GB of memory, 160GB 5400rpm disk, dual-layer DVD writer, 6-in-1 media card reader, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, ExpressCard, and Intel X3100 graphics with 1.3 megapixel camera, Dolby Home Theater speakers with sub-woofer running atop a Vista Home Premium OS. The 1.02-1.45-inch thick / 5.5-pound sled doesn't look half bad either... for Lenovo. Now we're just wondering if the build quality and support matches that of their ThinkPad lineup. If so, then Lenovo's got themselves a winner here.[Via c|net news]
Sharp's AQUOS P Series of TVs: world's first 22- and 26-inch 1080p LCDs
Like to sit real close to your TV? Good, 'cause you'll need to be PC-close to take advantage of these new 1080p LCDs from Sharp. Sharp's no dummy though, as they've fitted their new 22-, 26-, and 32-inch sets with HDCP-loving DVI-D and mini D-Sub for PC connectivity and 2x HDMI, S-Video, and 2x composite for your home entertainment and game console hookups. The new AQUOS P range feature built-in tuners, a 400cd/m2 brightness, 176-degree viewing angle, and a 2,000:1 contrast on the 32-inch before dropping off to 1,200:1 by the time you reach the 22-inch set. The LC-32P1-W, LC-26P1-W, and LC-22P1-W models are expected to range from ¥240,000 ($2,101) to ¥180,000 ($1,576) when they pop on November 22nd in Japan.[Via Impress]
iPhone and iPod touch v1.1.1 get instant jailbreak + installer
We could hardly believe it ourselves, but the open source community has parlayed that game-changing v1.1.1 TIFF exploit / file system hack into a full-on ready to rumble instant installer for AppTapp on the iPhone and iPod touch. Check out TUAW for the steps and further details, but we tried it on our v1.1.1 touch and it worked like a damn charm. In fact, we think this is finally what's going to get us to upgrade that virgin 1.0.2 iPhone we've been using. Fingers crossed.
Alltel is officially off the market: FCC approves $24.7B private equity buyout
The FCC hath spake: TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners (a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs), the two private equity firms looking to buy out the paradoxically national-regional carrier Alltel, have been given the greenlight. The two firms will pony up $24.7 billion (about $2050 per customers) to take Alltel, flush with cash and new customers, off the public market, with the expectation of closing the deal by November 22nd and paying some $71.50 cash per share to current shareholders. Two words: cha-ching.[Via MoCoNews]
The T-Mobile Shadow, October 31 for $149.99
Wing who? T-Mobile today has announced the long-rumored Shadow, a Windows Mobile 6 Standard device that looks not just better than its Wing stablemate, but arguably better than just about any comparably-equipped smartphone on the market today. Besides the "slick, slider design" and a juiced version of the standard Windows Mobile 6 UI, the Shadow features a rotating jog dial front and center, 2 megapixel camera, WiFi, and a new version of T-Mobile's myFaves interface allowing users to call, email, text, or MMS the peeps in their "fave five." Like what you see? If you do, good, because it turns out this is just the first in a whole line of upcoming Shadow-branded phones for the carrier -- a line that'll be focusing on multimedia connectivity and slanting the work / life balance a little more to the "life" side than some of HTC's and T-Mobile's other smart devices (ahem, Wing, we're looking straight at you). Grab the Shadow starting this Wednesday in "sage" or "copper" for a surprisingly reasonable $149.99 on two-year contract. %Gallery-9312%
Burnout Paradise smashes into North America Jan. 22
The next installment in the Burnout franchise, Burnout Paradise, races (and crashes) its way into Xbox 360s and PS3s across North America on Jan. 22. Can't wait until the '08 for your Paradise fix? Then be happy in knowing that a demo will be available on PSN and XBLM this December.The demo will have the new "stunt" mode and also feature online support for apparently one other friend. You'll be able to play with them in three challenges or "simply smash each other up and grab your friend's Burnout Mugshot." Oh Burnout, never disappointing in vicariously allowing us to experience our real life driving fantasies. One day we'll slip up forgetting we're driving a real car and attempt some Burnout maneuvers ... one day, soon.[Via press release]%Gallery-2874%
Nintendo hires two new executive VPs
Nintendo has announced two new executive vice presidents joining their new Silicon Valley offices. Cammie Dunaway -- former chief marketing officer for Yahoo! -- will take the position of executive vice president, sales and marketing, the position vacated by Reggie Fils-Aime when he was promoted to President and COO of Nintendo of America in April 2006. Shigeyuki Takahashi -- former president of Nintendo's North American business research team -- will take the position of executive vice president, special assignment. It's worth nothing that neither of these new hires are filling the exact roles recently vacated by Beth Llewelyn, George Harrison, and Perrin Kaplan, meaning either that Nintendo is still planning more hires, or restructuring those departments. Takahashi officially starts November 1, and Dunaway begins her new job on November 5.
Dell's XPS One leaked: watch out, Gateway
You all laugh at us for religiously trawling the FCC site during our rare free moments, and yet every once in awhile those countless hours of tedium pay off big time: meet Dell's unannounced all-in-one XPS One. What we're seeing here is a likely 22-inch WSXGA (1,680 x 1,050) display flanked by stereo speakers (with media buttons running up one side), topped off by a webcam, and featuring a slot-loading Blu-ray burner along the right bezel. On the inside we've got a number of processor options from Intel (the FCC test unit had a 2.66GHz E6750 Core 2 Duo), integrated or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2400 graphics, up to 4GB of RAM, four-flavor WiFi plus Bluetooth, and the usual slew of connectors including S/PDIF and a proprietary port for an optional breakout TV dongle. Input comes via the included wireless mouse and keyboard, and Dell's also loaded up a memory card reader, making for quite the capable multimedia PC. We'd expect this desktop to be priced well above the recent Gateway model with which it shares a moniker -- which isn't such a big deal, really, as $2,000+ price tags have never really stopped XPS customers before. For all the angles, make sure to hit up the gallery below... %Gallery-9018%
Samsung BlackJack2 gets ready to launch on AT&T
Don't get too excited -- you can't order it just yet -- but AT&T's at least ready to admit that the Samsung BlackJack2 exists. It seems the carrier's pulling the same stunt it did with the Q9 Global, taking email addresses for notification of availability without giving any indication as to when it might be available. Compared to the original, the keyboard and d-pad both look considerably hotter, Windows Mobile 6 comes installed (just imagine the horror if it wasn't!), "faster 3G speeds" are being touted, and perhaps most importantly, GPS capability is integrated. Oh yeah, there's some Video Share action in there too, but we're not too sure we'd call that a "feature." When it's launched, look for it in "wine red" and black.[Thanks, Chris P.]
TiVo Series3 and HD FINALLY get TiVoToGo, MRV, eSATA drive, other new features
TiVo let on that November was going to be the month that both TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing became a reality, and now with only a week to go it's finally here. But that's not all TiVo's taken the occasion to announce: in addition to being able to stream shows between your TiVos (MRV) and copy programming from a TiVo to your PC (TiVoToGo), TiVo has also announced (hack free) eSATA drive support along with Western Digital's My DVR Expander, which, for $199, will expand your TiVo with 500GB of space (a good 65 hours of HD). Another new feature included with this release is progressive downloads, which means you won't have to wait for TiVoCast and Unbox videos to finish downloading before you can start enjoying them. Instead, the TiVo will figured out how much of a buffer is required for uninterrupted viewing and let you start watching as soon as possible. While most of these features have been a long time coming, we can only imagine how excited TiVo owners are to know that the wait is over -- assuming they've already signed up for the priority list to received the 9.2 update.
Xbox Live Marketplace adding HD Looney Tunes episodes
We'll admit it, we had an idea Microsoft's just-announced Xbox 360 Arcade was coming. What we didn't expect was that it would be accompanied by a flood of family-friendly content headed to the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. Along with standard-def content from Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. will make 50 high definition episodes of Looney Tunes available for download. Of course, owners of the new Arcade unit won't be able to download the shows without a HDD, but why sweat the details (like pricing, which wasn't mentioned)? The new content hits "starting today", but doesn't appear to be up just yet, so keep an eye out for Acme-brand items landing on your HDTV.
Microsoft announces Xbox 360 Arcade, goodbye Xbox 360 Core
Oh our god you guys, Microsoft totally just blew our minds and officially announced this new version the Xbox called the Xbox 360 Arcade. It's like the Core, right? Except now it comes bundled with five arcade style games (Pac-Man, Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, Luxor 2, and Uno), a wireless controller, HDMI, and a 256MB memory card for $280. (But like the Core, there's still no hard drive.) We so had no clue this was coming, Microsoft just completely, totally blindsided us. Damn you, Redmond, for being so very clever.%Gallery-8967%
Xbox 360 Arcade finally official, released today for $280
It's about time! Microsoft finally announced the Xbox 360 Arcade (the replacement for the Core) will go on sale October 23 -- that's today, folks -- for $280. Even after being found in the wild and unboxed, Microsoft still refused to acknowledge the console's existence until this past Sunday. The console comes with a 256MB Memory Unit, a wireless controller, HDMI port, and a disc that includes five full Xbox Live Arcade games: Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, Luxor 2, Pac-Man Championship, and Uno. Despite the unit having an HDMI port, it only comes with standard-def composite cables (the red, white and yellow one), instead of the high-def component/composite hybrid cables bundled with its big brothers.Also note, the inclusion of a 'Superman Indian Air' silhouette on the retail box (see the guy on the bike?) is not confirmation that an actual BMX game is forthcoming.Update: Major Nelson just pinged us to correct the status of the packaged Xbox Live Arcade titles; they are full games, not trials; 2: Europe gets it Oct. 26 for £200 (no € given).%Gallery-8981%
Transformers HD DVD sets new high definition sales records
Paramount couldn't wait for the Nielsen numbers to announce that Transformers has become the best selling day one and week one HD title on Blu-ray or HD DVD. Blu-ray or HD DVD is important, because it appears even its 190,000 HD DVDs sold in the first week is still behind 300's week one mark of 250k combined. Still, over 100,000 of those sold on the first day and definitely make this the biggest exclusive release since Sony's Casino Royale broke the 100k copies shipped barrier back in March. Two things appear to be confirmed, that the lack of lossless audio wasn't that big of a deal to many buyers, and that HD sales are still miniscule when compared to the 8.3 million Transformer DVDs that sold in the first week.[Thanks, domerdel]
Army of Two delayed until Q1 2008
Which, if we're reading 1UP's interview with executive producer Alan Tuscan correctly, is to "add the polish." They must be having a devil of a time finding a translator, eh? But seriously, folks, Army of Two has been delayed until the first quarter of 2008. While those looking forward to the co-op macho men antics of the high-profile shooter will restrain their bitter tears until they're alone, EA's November bail-out is probably for the best. "This is an important new IP for us and we don't want to spoil it," says Tuscan, displaying full awareness of the competition found in Halo 3 and even Gears of War. "Are they setting the bar at a certain level? Sure. But that's the bar we're hitting anyway -- it's the bar we were aiming for even before seeing these games." Though it sounds like a slight against the game, it's clear that nobody is going to miss Army of Two in a holiday brimming with a ludicrous number of $60 epics, least of all an unpolished version of it. Let's hope a few more publishers realize the calendar goes on after you page past the holiday months. [Thanks, Corey] %Gallery-3678%
Apple shipped 1,119,000 iPhones in Q4 2007
Sure, Apple's profitability and viability is based on any number of factors, but there's one figure that analysts have been training their calculators on for months that has finally seen the light of day: Apple sold 1,119,000 iPhones in Q4 2007, which ended on September 29th, bringing the grand total to 1,389,000 since launch. That might meet or miss your expectations, but other sales bringing a smile to Jobs' face and a cha-ching to his wallet include a 34% growth in Mac sales year to year and a 17% growth in iPods year to year -- with 10.2 million iPods sold last quarter. The earnings call hasn't started just yet, so hopefully we'll get a few more juicy details on how much AT&T is chipping in to the bottom line these days.
Mossberg howls: "Free My Phone"
Walt Mossberg -- arguably consumer electronics' single most feared and influential tech pundit -- just unleashed poetic fury on the carrier/government cartel which has made the US "the laughingstock of the mobile-technology world." In a glorious rant dubbed "Free My Phone," Walt compares carrier tactics to those of the old Soviet Ministry while pummeling the "shortsighted and often just plain stupid" federal government for allowing itself to be "bullied and fooled by a handful of big wireless phone operators." He draws further comparison to the innovation-stifling days of clumsy, black rotary phones locked to the monopolistic AT&T wires which once strangled our homes. Then, government interaction was required to break the hold; something Walt believes might be required today in lieu of a disruptive innovation. Now hit that read link and let the revolution begin!
New Zunes actually confirmed for November 13th
Whereas before all we had to go on was Amazon's purported release date for the new Zunes, Microsoft's gone ahead and confirmed it for us by way of old school paper magazine print ads, which confirm availability "begining" (or at least around) the 13th of November.
Samsung's 40-inch 1080p LCD TV panel -- just 0.39-inches thin
With Sharp, Hitachi, and LG.Philips all announcing ultra-thin LCDs we were beginning to wonder, where's Samsung with their world's first / biggest / thinnest boasting? No more. Meet the 10-mm (0.39-inch) thin, 40-inch LED-backlit, Full HD LCD TV panel which covers 92% of the NTSC color gamut while consuming less than 90 watts of power. That profile easily bests the crazy thin measurements we've already seen. At the moment, however, no price or production run details are available. That could change on Wednesday when the panel goes on display at FPD International in Japan.
