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Creative debuts ZEN X-Fi Style, ZEN Style portable media players
Creative isn't exactly breaking the mold with these, but the company has just announced its new ZEN X-Fi Style and ZEN Style series of portable media players, which both keep things fairly simple and inexpensive. The ZEN X-Fi Style (pictured above) is the higher end of the two, with it packing a 2.4-inch non-touchscreen display, 8GB, 16GB or 32GB of storage, a built-in speaker, microphone and TV out, and the usual X-Fi sound enhancement -- not to mention support for "playback" of downloaded RSS feeds, but no other apparent internet capabilities. It's joined by the ZEN Style 100 and 300, which each pack a 1.8-inch display and 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of storage, along with an added speaker and FM radio on the ZEN Style 300 (pictured after the break). Look for the ZEN X-Fi Style to start shipping on April 14th at prices between $80 and $170, while the two ZEN Style players are available right now for between $50 and $80. [Thanks, Ruben]
Creative's new headset keeps WoW gamers engrossed in all-night raids
It's a little late to be jumping on the World of Warcraft bandwagon, but it's safe to say that there are still quite a few addicted dedicated players out there in dire need of a headset. You know, to keep their roommates from going batty as they stay up all night congregating with digital friends and "leveling up." Anywho, Creative Labs has just put its latest headset up for pre-order on Amazon, with a wired version listed at $119.99 and a wireless rendition priced at $40 more. According to the product listing, the latter relies on a 2.4GHz signal, and both of 'em utilize THX TruStudio PC technology in order to split your mind wide open with pure aural bliss. There's nary a mention of a ship date just yet, but you know you're fixing to get your pre-order in now to avoid missing out. Er, you will right after you slay one... more... enemy....
Creative rolls out X-Fi 2 SDK, developers now free to craft games and apps
We're going way out on a limb here and guessing that Creative's X-Fi 2 doesn't exactly have an insane amount of the PMP market share, but for those obsessed with its boyish good looks and world-beating user interface, we've got some thrilling news to share. The company has just made public its ADK (Application Development Kit), a Lua-based system where devs are able to "code their own interesting applications and customize the ZEN X-Fi 2." You're also able to "create and debug games and applications right from one's Windows PC," so any Mac loyalists in the house will have to fire up Boot Camp (or similar) in order to dive in. Hit the source to get your download on, and be sure to drop us a line when your riveting new title is ready for public consumption. [Thanks, Gavin]
Creative giving away WoW headsets on Facebook
Creative is giving away 20 of the new Soundblaster World of Warcraft Headsets from their Facebook page. Just become a fan and comment on the appropriate thread in order to enter the drawing. These highly anticipated headsets are only available for preorder at this time, but word has it they are fresh off the assembly line and will be available soon. We gave away a few at the end of last year and also got to play around with the prototypes at BlizzCon. They've given their first three headsets already. So if you are interested, hurry over and leave a comment about what features you are most looking forward to. The contest continues until March 15, 2010. Note: Commenting here will not enter you in the contest. You must comment at the provided link for your entry to be valid. Also, please go to Soundblaster's facebook page (click on the above picture) for any rules and restrictions. %Gallery-84346%
Creative WoW headsets now available for pre-order
Creative unveiled an official licensed World of Warcraft gaming headset back in last year's BlizzCon, and we even got a quick look at the product prototypes when they stopped by the annual WoW.com reader meet-up as well as when they invited us to their booth to check it out. Readers also got a chance to win a pair when we ran contests all throughout the last quarter of 2009. if you've been slathering over one of these fancy peripherals but never lucked out in one of our contests, you might be pleased to learn that the Sound Blaster World of Warcraft headsets are finally available for pre-order from Amazon starting today, February 1. The headsets we previewed back in August were mere prototypes, and the finished product looks far more refined. The headsets follow the same design principle as the Steelseries WoW mouse, with a faux metallic finish and etched runes. The headsets also have interchangeable 'headset lenses' which feature either the Alliance or Horde logo to show your allegiance. Creative also says that they'll be releasing additional lenses in the future, the first set of which will feature the ten classes of the game. As with the official World of Warcraft mouse, the headsets also have a dazzling 16 million programmable color illumination options. The fully customizable headset comes in wireless or wired versions, with THX TruStudio PC technology for a more immersive gaming experience. The wireless version reportedly carries up to 9 hours of battery charge as well as a standard, detachable USB connector that can also be used to charge it. The headset microphone is detachable to allow the use of the headphone for communication or merely for listening. The World of Warcraft headset can also be configured to match different character profiles, accessible through what appears to be an in-game menu. The Sound Blaster World of Warcraft wireless headset retails for $159.99 while the tethered version is available for $119.99. Creative is also offering a complementary accessory called VoiceTap which allows players to program their push-to-talk key or even a macro to it instead of to their keyboard or mouse, allowing full hands-free communication. %Gallery-84346%
Apple rumor roundup: 'the day before' edition
We'll just come right out and say it: we couldn't possibly be happier to see that January 27, 2010 is tomorrow. Shortly after 10AM on the left coast, Stevie J himself will finally put a hush to the rumors that have been swirling constantly over the past fortnight or so (and we'll be there live to cover it). Till then, however, we've got one more round of scuttlebutt to serve up. Kicking things off is a New York Times report that explains in some level of detail what exactly the supposed Apple tablet will feature in terms of specifications. To quote: "It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod Touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print." We shall see. Moving on, we've got even more whispers that publishers -- with the NYT mentioned specifically -- around the globe have been getting wind of this thing as the suits in Cupertino attempt to nail down content deals. Broadcast Engineering even has a piece that straight-up states that Apple was "was in New York City last week showing the tablet to media companies as a new way to sell books, newspapers and other reading material through its iTunes online store." Still not convinced? NetbookNews has an apparently ongoing article about the authenticity / non-authenticity of a Media Markt tweet that "accidentally" leaked a supposed €899 price point for the device, while Hot Hardware switches things up and reports that AT&T will lose its iPhone exclusivity during tomorrow's event. Oh, and the very first hands-on review of the Apple tablet is also live (courtesy of Mosspuppet), while yet another hotly contested image has arisen to perch atop these very words. Phew.
The Queue: Patience is a virtue
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. This is usually the part where I try to be funny and write an eye-grabbing intro to The Queue. Today, that goes right out the window. Why? Because I'm busy. Busy doing what, you ask? Picking our new columnists! We have some good ones this time around, folks. Keep an eye out. Anonymoose asked... "Why does Keristrasza always yell "Preserve? Why? There's no truth in it! No, no, no!" whenever you engage? How is it relevant, lore-wise, to anything we did for the Red Dragonflight in and around the Nexus? Why is she frozen there in the first place?"
Valve looking for user-created items in Team Fortress 2
There once was a time when your only option for exercising creativity in Team Fortress 2 was to come up with clever ways to grief your fellow players. Today, Valve announced that players would soon have a less annoying way to stretch their imagination muscles -- by designing their own items and avatars which could possibly show up in-game. Of course, you can't simply break one of the classes by creating a mini-nuke launcher for them -- there's a number of restrictions to what's appropriate for the game. Check out Valve's handy "Tips and Tricks" page to find out how to ensure your homebrewed creations are TF2-acceptable. For instance, a new fedora for the Sniper? Absolutely. A gun shaped like genitalia for the Heavy? Absolutely not.
Nintendo trademarks 'Zii' over in Japan, Creative is like 'zaywha?'
Here's an interesting one. Siliconera has dug up what it claims to be a Japanese trademark for the term "Zii," and contrary to what you may expect, the application wasn't filed by Creative. We double checked the database, and sure enough, the paperwork went through on October 30th -- which almost certainly means that this was more than just some day-late attempt to fend off the next-generation of KIRF Wii consoles. There's obviously no way to tell what the Big N has in mind here, nor if this will cause any kind of friction between it and Creative, but we'll certainly be keeping an ear to the ground for more. Who knows -- maybe the Zii is that HD Wii we've all been clamoring for since November of 2006. Or maybe it's nothing at all. Update: We've done a bit more digging, and it looks as if this here filing may simply be a renewal of a 2006 trademark request. Moreover, we've found Nintendo trademarks in Japan for Cii, Bii, Oii and Yii, so it seems the company may just be on some sort of rampage in order to cover its tracks in one form or another.
Friday Favorite: Ommwriter, the Zen word processor for writers
More Friday Favorites, the apps, tools and accessories that we love to share. As a writer, I love Scrivener. It's great for managing large and complex projects. But for shorter pieces, this blog post for example, I've found a new favorite, Ommwriter. Brett first mentioned the beta of Ommwriter here a few weeks ago. Ommwriter is unique as a word processor for several reasons. It only has a full screen workspace. It lacks several of the options of most other word processors (you can only write in three fonts and three font sizes). Even when you minimize its window, there is no Mac-like genie effect – Ommwriter just fades away. But its Zen-like minimalism and lack of options are the point. Ommwriter puts you in the middle of a secluded snowy landscape on a foggy winter's day. As relaxing music calms you, the words you type appear on your screen as if you were writing them in the sky. It's just you and your thoughts for miles around. And, from just three writings, I can tell you Ommwriter does its job exceptionally well. When I write in it, within minutes I no longer hear the sounds of busy London city life zooming past my flat. You really have to use it to get a good idea of how well it works. For a quick look, check out the video below. In addition to the snowy landscape there are seven built-in soundtracks and images you can choose from. The guys at a Barcelona creative agency called Herraiz Soto & Co. [Ed. note: this link is now broken, sorry for the inconvenience] originally designed Ommwriter as an in-house tool to help their creative people get their thoughts flowing. Now it's available in beta to Mac users here. Let me know what you think of Ommwriter in the comments! Thanks, Charlie Omniwriter from David Wogan on Vimeo.
Zii Trinity's HD playback gets a quick and promising look
It's over far too quickly, but in the video after the break, what you get to see is how well the Zii Trinity mobile prototype handles outputting HD video -- in this case, a very smooth playback of a snippet from Wall-E. Can we express more excitement for Creative's little platform that could? Probably, but we're already reaching pretty high. Now if only we could get some hands-on time of our own...
Zii Trinity smartphone concept handled on video
It's an all too brief look, but it's infinitely more than we've seen so far. CNET Asia has managed some hands-on time the Zii Trinity concept smartphone. Quite a looker, and here we also get a glimpse of it next to the good ol' Zii Egg. As noted by the narrator, the bottom proprietary slot can be swapped for microUSB or mini-HDMI, there's a notably-sized 5 megapixel camera on the back, as well as one on the front for video conferencing. Enough talk, take a gander for yourself after the break. [Thanks, kumar]
Congrats to our Creative headset winners
A couple of weeks ago, we announced a huge contest with Creative to give away twenty-five of their new World of Warcraft wireless headsets, one for each person in one big lucky raid. That contest has been over for a little bit, and we've finally picked a winner: congrats to all of the winners in the guild Rusty Blades on Cenarion Circle! They, along with the nine random winners in each of our single headset giveaways, as well as the lucky winners in the five man contest (who've all been contacted and confirmed) will all get their very own units when the headsets are finally released later on this month. And if you didn't win, don't worry -- Creative will of course be selling the headsets, so you can make sure to put them on your Christmas list, and maybe a loved one will help you out. The latest that we've heard is that they're still due out for release sometime this month, so stay tuned and when we know more about the release, you will too. Since our 25-man contest was actually a bit of a trivia contest as well (guilds had to find five locations in-game and then take pictures at each place), we've put the Rusty Blades' excellent answers after the break. Hopefully you haven't been wondering desperately about the answers for the last month but in case you were, there you go.
Zii Trinity mobile platform packs 1080p punch, looking for OEM love
Ready to start lusting after a new smartphone? If Creative has its way, you'll soon be enjoying Full HD video on a 3.5 / 4G device, with built-in WiFi, 5 megapixel autofocus camera, accelerated 3D graphics, and mini-HDMI and Composite video outputs. The newly announced 3.1-inch, multitouch-capable Zii Trinity has been designed by Creative subsidiary Ziilabs, and will be licensed out to clients who'll be able to customize a Zii-optimized Android install and Plaszma interface. As if we haven't got enough smartphone ecosystems knocking about already, this also marks the introduction of ZiiLife, which aims to be both a content delivery and productivity suite. Powered by the ARM-based ZMS-05 or ZMS-08, the new handset actually seems destined to perform plenty of KIRF and grey market duties, judging by Creative's "strategic partnerships" with Chinese manufacturers, but that might be no bad thing as, according to Gartner, the grey market is booming right now.
Creative ZEN X-Fi2 sees its first firmware update, still has aways to go
Just weeks after going on sale here in America, Creative's underwhelming ZEN X-Fi2 portable media player is already seeing its first firmware update. If you'll recall, we found the unit darn near unusable back at IFA, and even now it's being panned for forcing users to mash the screen too often and wait too long for things to happen. Reportedly, the 1.10.04 update solves those responsiveness issues, and it also brings about colored icons (yeah, seriously), accelerometer usage (but only for photos), a Sudoku game and a "press and hold" behavior for powering the unit on or off. The most interesting aspect here (in our humble opinions) is the Sudoku bit, as it certainly hints at more titles being possible in future firmware refreshes. Hit the Read link to get that download going, and hop on past the break if you need any video convincing.
Creative rolls out third gen Vado HD pocket camcorder
Creative sure seems to be taking the incremental approach to upgrades with its Vado HD pocket camcorders, but if you've found the previous two models just a tad lacking, you might want to consider the company's newly announced 3rd gen model. From the looks of it, most of the core specs remain the same, but Creative is promising some improved low light video recording and manual exposure adjustment, along with a new motion detection mode, support for an external stereo mic, a headphone output, and even the ability to take some still photos. You'll also now get out of the box Mac and PC compatibility, and five glossier than ever colors -- though Creative has curiously dropped the 8GB model in favor of a single 4GB option, which will set you back $179.99. [Thanks, Kingone]
Enter to win 25 Creative headsets, one for each member of your raid
We've been giving away these Creative World of Warcraft wireless headsets for a while now, one per week to one lucky winner (and grats to those of you who've already picked them up). But Creative also wanted to work with us to do something really epic, something only WoW.com could put together. And so we're going for the whole enchilada: we're giving away a set of twenty-five (that's right, 25, one per raid member in your group) Creative World of Warcraft wireless headsets. This is going to be the clearest, most amazing sounding group on Vent ever -- not a single person in your raid will have to say "sorry, no mic." So how do you win? Obviously an epic contest like this requires an epic entry, so here's how we're going to do it: after the break on this post, you'll find a list of five different riddles, each one hinting at a different place in the game.
Creative to show off 'Zii Android mobile phone' next month at Chinese summit
We've been saying all along that we'd love nothing more than to see someone throw a 3G chip into Creative's Zii Egg and sell it as a pretty strong smartphone, but so far we've been hit with little to no indication of interested parties making that happen. So when we spot phrases like "Zii Optimized Android Phone platform" and "the line-up of devices on display includes a Mobile Phone platform" on an informational site for the ZiiLABS Showcase happening early December in China, our interested are definitely piqued. The event is geared towards companies who'd like to use the Plaszma platform for their products, and with any luck, some debonair decision-maker will give Zii phone a chance. [Thanks, Kyle]
Last chance to enter to win a Creative headset of your own
This is finally it -- your last chance as a single commenter to pick yourself up a Creative World of Warcraft wireless gaming headset. We've been giving one of these away every single week for a few months now, and today we've finally run out of the single headsets, so here's your last chance to leave a comment on this post and win one on your own. As usual, the contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), and everyone who enters must be 13 or older. To enter, leave a comment on this post before Wednesday, November 18th, at midnight eastern, and please be sure to use a real email that you check often to enter, so we can contact the winners when we choose them. One winner will be chosen. You may enter only once, and each winner will get a Creative World of Warcraft Wireless Gaming Headset, with a retail value of $150. Please note: winners will not receive the headset until it is released later this year. Click here to read the official contest rules. Good luck -- oh, and are you wondering why we said "single headset"? Because we will have yet another contest next week, but it'll be more of a "group quest" kind of thing, where you and some friends will have a chance to win a raid full of headsets for yourselves. Stay tuned for more info in one week's time.
ZiiLABS ZMS-08 offers Cortex A8-powered Full HD and Flash acceleration for netbooks
We haven't even seen the Zii EGG make its long-anticipated consumer debut yet, but Creative is already building up steam for its next Zii venture. ZiiLABS' ZMS-08 is a third generation mobile media accelerator / system-on-a-chip that boasts its predecessor's 1080p playback and 24fps encoding, and HD video conferencing via simultaneous 720p encoding and decoding, while adding all-new OpenGL ES 2.0 support, an integrated HDMI controller, X-Fi audio and Flash acceleration. Paired to a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8, and running a custom flavor of Android alongside Plaszma OS, the new Zii chip will look for homes in "web tablets, netbooks, connected TVs" and the like, but seemingly not smartphones. ZiiLABS has already signed up a number of clients, who'll start receiving shipments in Q1 of 2010. Full PR and an architectural diagram after the break.