August 11, 2009 Xbox LIVE Update truly cranks it up a notch – with features that improve your entertainment experience and give you new ways to express your individuality and connect with friends. With this update, you can download full Xbox 360® games and play them without a disc, and you and your friends will be able to party watch movies online through Netflix! Dress up your avatar to impress with premium props and branded apparel from fashion labels. And this update allows every piece of game content on Marketplace to be rated, so add your personal ratings and see what others think is cool. But that’s just the beginning. Check out all of the new features of the Xbox LIVE Update below.

Games on Demand

Enjoy the convenience of finding and buying new games right from the comfort of your own living room. Download a wide selection of full Xbox 360 games over Xbox LIVE. Games on Demand will be available for purchase on Xbox LIVE starting August 11 as part of the Xbox LIVE Update. You will be able to browse and purchase games through the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the Web starting August 13.

Avatars

Avatars have seen lots of love! Check out the new Marketplace and Avatar Props. The Avatar Marketplace will be available on Xbox LIVE starting August 11 as part of the Xbox LIVE Update. You will be able to browse and purchase Avatar apparel through the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the Web starting August 13.

Netflix

Now you can watch movies with your friends and find new movies to add to your Instant Queue without leaving your seat.

Party Watch – Catch a show with your friends! Bring your party into Netflix and watch a movie or TV show together

Parties

Everyone loves to Party! Check out the new and improved party reconnections and streamlined party invites.

Party Reconnections – If a user is disconnected from a party inadvertently, they will be automatically reconnected to the party without any user interaction.

Gold Member Veterans – Been here long? Show it off! Anyone looking at your gamer card will now know how long you’ve been an Xbox LIVE Gold member. And who knows, there might be other perks for you, too. Thanks for sticking around!

Many changes have gone into the account recovery process to speed it up and to increase reliability.

Video Display Options

Various improvements have been made to make it easier for you to see your game in the highest resolution possible when using an HDMI connection.

UI Improvements

Some parts of the dashboard have been slightly re-organized to make it easier to find the things you’re looking for.

Indie Games – We listened to our community and have decided to rename Xbox LIVE Community Games to Xbox LIVE Indie Games. This new name better represents the independent spirit of these titles. User ratings are also available for Indie Games, allowing you to share your rating for a game and use ratings from others to find great new games.

Achievement Browser – Launch a game directly from the Achievement browser making it even easier for you to max out your Gamerscore.

This fall, Xbox LIVE will see the addition of the following new features as well:

Facebook
Twitter
Last.fm
Zune Video

Gaming, News, Xbox Gaming, microsoft, Netflix, twitter, xbox 360

iPhone 3.0 is live! so I am going to post 9to5mac.com’s tethering tutorial for you guys, or you can go and support them on their site.

You now don’t have to do any downgrading or torrenting. Seems you can just run a little command in terminal (Make sure you are on OS 3.0 on a 3G iPhone and iTunes 8.2):

On a Mac:

Open terminal and paste in:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE

Hit enter, it’ll look like nothing happened… but it put iTunes into a testing mode that lets the rest work.

After that, the steps become a lot more simple.

1. Download this file (for AT&T) and mount the disk image (thanks Gizmodo) for other carriers, try here.

2. Option-click on “restore” in your iTunes with your iPhone attached. Browse to the opened disk image file and hit OK. It will update phone settings for a few seconds.

3. You have tethering. Now go into your iPhone/settings/general/network/Internet Tethering and turn it on.

Boom – 3 steps to tethering… [via 9to5mac.com]

Or if your on a PC:

C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe /setPrefInt carrier-testing 1

For people who are unaware of what tethering is, it’s using the iPhone’s EDGE or 3G connection and using it on a computer which the phone is either attached over USB or Bluetooth, sharing the connection so that if you have no WiFi and you don’t have a 3G card you could just plug in your iPhone and browse away.

UPDATE: For O2 UK users I am hosting the .ipcc file here (right click save as) (Thanks Ryan)

Apple, Gadgets, Hacks and Mods, Iphone, Tech 3.0, Apple, Iphone, itunes, Tech, tethering

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the newest movie in a long line of planned X-Men comic book to movie adaptations, or as we call them in the industry… “geek cash cows”. Without ruining the story, the movie follows Wolverine from boyhood till just before the events from the original X-Men movie from 2000.

All of your favorites are there: Wolverine, The Blob, Sabertooth, and my personal favorite, Gambit… even an appearance by Charlie from the TV series LOST, or the Lord of the Rings movies, if you really want to get nerdy about it.

The graphics are great, the soundtrack is pumping, and you get to see Wolverine… you know… tear a lot of things to shreds, because hey, that’s what you really want to see anyway… oh, and him riding a motorcycle, chewing on a cigar! The movie has some great moments, not to mention some serious “chops”… sorry, couldn’t resist! The movie stays close to the comic books without many gaping holes, and for the most part, they got it all right. I really loved it.

Bottom line: Go see it. It’s a great action flick that’s easy to follow, even if you aren’t a fan of the series. It’s rated PG-13 or 12A in the UK, there isn’t any gore really to speak of and a very small amount of blood. If you’re looking for a great action date movie, this is a great start to the Summer movie season! Bring on X-Men Origins: Mystique! W00T!

Comic, Movie, Reviews geek, Movie, review, X-Men

So, you want to play Crysis as bad as I do, but your PC barely has enough power to run MSPaint, let alone the sickest, power hungry FPS out there? Well, MaximumPC has put together a sweet gaming rig for under $500 including a case this time… versus the cardboard box they used last time.

The build includes a PowerColor AX4870 512MB Videocard ($175) and a Intel Pentium E5200 2.5GHz Wolfdale CPU ($71), both great choices in terms of power, but I think there are a few more video cards around the same price that you could substitute.

The Parts:
Videocard: PowerColor AX4870 512MB
CPU: Intel Pentium E5200 2.5GHz Wolfdale
Motherboard: MSI P43 Neo3-F LGA 775
Memory: Crucial 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 800
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S223F 22X DVDR
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB
Case and Power Supply: Rosewill TU-155 II 500 Black

I couldn’t find every, single part, but I found most at TigerDirect. If you are willing to spend a little more, for $89 more you can get a EVGA 790i Ultra SLI Barebone Kit – Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 OEM, 4GB OCZ Fatal1ty DDR3-1333, 1TB SATA2, Clear Side ATX Case, 550 Watts at just $589. Bring on the Crysis! [via Gizmodo via MaximumPC]

Deals, Gaming, Tech Deals, Gaming, geek, pc, Tech

If you’ve seen the Microsoft Laptop Hunters ads [Lauren, Giampaolo, and Lisa and Jackson] and they have your Apple rage burning deep down in your soul, or you just think that Microsoft just doesn’t have a clue (Lauren “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person”), then this video should make you feel better… if not, at least it’s still really funny! Meet Homeless Frank.

Comic, Funny, Windows Bizarre, Funny, geek, mac, Windows

Peter S Kolmisoppi, one of the co-founders of Pirate Bay, tweeted sadly that, “According to leaked information from the court we lost (got the news last night). Trustworthy source as well.” The site’s 4 owners each face a year in prison and over a $3.5 million fine if the judgment comes through.

For those of you that don’t know, The Pirate Bay is a Swedish website that indexes, stores and tracks BitTorrent (.torrent) files, such a music and movies. They are charged with being accessories to copyright infringement, but Kolmisoppi says that, “nothing will happen to TPB, us personally or file sharing what so ever”, although the outcome is still uncertain in my opinion.

I’m sure that the defendants will appeal the verdict and finally buy that island they were looking for, thus starting their own country… kinda like Waterworld, but with better acting.

Movie, Music, News, Rumor, Tech free, geek, internet, Tech

If you loved the first BioShock as much as I did, you have been waiting… waiting… and… waiting for some sign that BioShock 2 wasn’t just vaporware, and now you have it thanks to GameTrailers. I, for one, am very excited! Look at how even more beautiful everything is, including the already stunning water effects. What do you think? Comment below!

Gaming, News, Playstation, Xbox Gaming, ps3, xbox 360

Needless to say I’m not really very shocked, but Richard Thornhill found 4 ecstasy pills under the front cover in his second-hand copy of Grand Theft Auto IV, which he bought from Gamestation in Cheltenham, England.

Mr Thornhill said: “What made me feel the most distraught was the fact we let our 12-year-old play the game”… you know, that makes me sick as well… a 12 year old playing GTA IV? That kinda seems a little young. Don’t get me wrong, I love the GTA series, but the game is rated “18″ here in the UK, that’s actually worse than taking a 12-year-old to an NC-17 movie in the states. The fact is that Rockstar Games, the developer of GTA series, has to pass out free drugs to the kids so that they’ll play their games.

The local Gamestation manager invited them to hand the drugs over to the company so they could destroy them and also points out that they have rigorous procedures for accepting pre-owned titles and checking them before they are put back on sale… [just not for common street drugs apparently]…

Is the video game rating system so difficult to understand that parents can’t read them or do they just not care? How early would you let your kids play GTA or not? Why or why not? [via BBC]

Bizarre, Funny, Gaming, News Bizarre, Drugs, Funny, Gaming

Watch the Scarpar Powerboard take on sand, snow…even go off-road (watch around 1:34 where is climbs over a huge log! CRAZY!), this cross between a snowmobile and a skateboard gets a major thumbs up from me! I have been a Mountain boarder for years and it sure beats walking back up the hill after every run! On The flip side, I have serious doubts that this thing could actually move with me on top of it… like the time I tried to steal my little cousin’s Power Wheels Jeep and it wouldn’t move at all… Anyway, the Powerboard is still in development and no release date is set yet. I want it bad! [Scarpar via Engadget via Gizmodo]

Beta, News, Tech extreme, geek, sport

Hollywood actor Kal Penn has taken a job in the administration of President Barack Obama. That’s right, Obama and Kumar are going to White Castle House!

Kal Penn, who appeared in TV show House and is best known for his role as a pot-smoking student in the Harold and Kumar movies (Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle and Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay), will work in the Office of Public Liaison connecting the President with Asian, Pacific Island communities and arts groups. Sources also say he will also be part of the Whitehouse Hemp Advocate Committee, but that is currently unsubstantiated…

Read more…

Bizarre, Deals, Funny, Movie, News Bizarre, Funny