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War Rock lotto rocks Halloween
Players of War Rock, the free-play MMO from K2 Network and Team War Rock, have the opportunity to win prizes as a part of this year's special Halloween events. All cash purchases made on the War Rock website until November 7 qualify players for a chance to win at the prize lottery. Instant prizes include an in-game dinar jackpot, unreleased weapons and more. Each purchase also puts players into the weekly draws for G5 gaming mice, Sound Blaster Pro sound cards, and Creative Labs headsets. The Grand Prize draw is for an Alienware m5550 gaming notebook. Check out the full list of prizes, terms and conditions, and enjoy your Halloween gaming at War Rock!
Is Creative serious about a possible "ZenPhone"?
iPhone, ZunePhone and ZenPhone, oh my! With Apple's iPhone still causing seething "gotta have" mentality among its ardent fans way before release, the Microsoft "Zune phone" that is circling the rumor camps hard has nothing on the Creative ZenPhone. That joke aside, maybe all the top DAP makers and ODMs will design a functional cellphone / DAP unit soon, although we're not sure about the RF prowess of DAP makers. Anyhoo, this potential two-piece odd looking phone / easy chair massager controller device (the Xmod) is being chalked up as the Creative "ZenPhone" right now. Creative, who predicted they would attack Apple's DAP market share and fell off that wagon just a tad before settling, may indeed unveil a ZenPhone in the future. That being said, it's hard to say if this first peek is for real from Creative -- or some Singaporean's fantasy right now.[Thanks, Vizion]
Creative Labs Xmod now shipping
When you hear the name "Creative Labs" you automatically think "Mac," right? Yeah, sure you do. Well Creative wants to change that and they are so confident they can win your hearts and minds that they've not only started shipping a new X-fi audio adapter that requires no drivers, works right out of the box with your Mac and plugs into any available powered USB port - but they're laying out some serious cash for a booth at the upcoming Macworld, too. And just look at that box shot on the right it just screams "I love Mac users! HONESTLY I DO!!!" I think they really mean it. If it weren't for that huge knob in the middle, I'd have easily mistaken that for a 1st gen iPod shuffle.The audio adapter in question is called the Xmod and it makes some pretty heady claims that have me a bit skeptical, but I will reserve judgment until we actually get our hands on one. The Xmod is true plug and play and it is Mac compatible out of the box, provided you have an available USB port (and I am assuming it has to be a powered port, so keyboard hubs are out) and are running Mac OS X 10.4 or later. It claims to enhance the audio quality of your MP3s to "beyond studio quality," making audio sound more vibrant and replacing what's naturally lost during the MP3 compression process. It also claims to give you surround sound on any stero speaker or headphones connected to your Mac. It accomplishes all this using an audio standard that they call X-fi Xtreme Fidelity, which you can read more about here.I am 100% in favor of having the best audio quality possible, whenever possible, although I honestly don't play a lot of music directly from my Mac. Still, I can't help but be skeptical about how well an $80 USB device can accomplish these lofty goals. The good news is that we here at TUAW HQ will have our hands on one soon so we can see for ourselves just how well the Xmod lives up to the Xmarketing. We'll keep you posted!
Creative's Live! Cam Voice sports a mic for video chat
Video instant messaging seems to be taking off in a big way, at least if all those new video features being added by the major IM services are any indication, so Creative has just released a microphone-sporting webcam to let you get in on all the fun. Besides a 1.3 megapixel webcam (which claims to take 5 megapixel stills, but we suspect some interpolation is going on there), the Live! Cam Voice also features a directional microphone which supposedly enhances your chat experience in crowded areas, and even does double-duty as a remotely-viewable motion-activated security cam. When you're doing the chat thing, you can select a smart-face tracking option that uses digital zooms, pans, and tilts to keep you in the picture, but also seems to throttle down the resolution to only 640 x 480. Available immediately under the model number VF1070, this model is being given a suggested MSRP of $99 by Creative, but we already saw it on Amazon for just $84.
