Nov 27

Xbox 360 Outsells Original Xbox

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Microsoft Xbox folk are probably still back-slapping each other and popping champagne corks at the news that the Xbox 360 console has outsold the original Xbox earlier than expected.

xbox 360 achievement.jpg

Just days after the Xbox 360 turned 3 years old, Microsoft has said that the Xbox 360 has outsold the original Xbox, with sales topping 25 million units. It even managed it a week or so early, thanks to the recent bouts of generous price cuts.

Speaking to MCV, Vice president of interactive entertainment business for EMEA Chris Lewis, said:

“We’ve already surpassed the installed base of the original Xbox – which is a really significant milestone. We’ve been blown away by the appetite of people to consumer digital entertainment experiences.”

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Nov 27

ATSC gives initial thumbs-up to MPH mobile TV standard

Posted in: Today's Chili

Merely weeks after a handful of TV broadcasters voiced their approval of the MPH mobile TV standard, the almighty ATSC has elevated its specification for Mobile Digital Television to Candidate Standard status. Or it will early next week, based on the futuristic December 1st date on the press release. Anywho, the thumbs-up brings the standard one huge step closer to actual implementation in the United States, though a final standard isn’t apt to be agreed upon until late next year. Not that the delay is really a problem — after all, a grand total of 19 people in this great nation even care about TV on the go, right?

[Via mocoNews]

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ATSC gives initial thumbs-up to MPH mobile TV standard originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 06:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 27

Firecoder Blu, Thomson’s SpursEngine graphics card, available in December

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“Bag of hurt” or no, it doesn’t look like Blu-ray is going to disappear any time soon. Firecoder Blu is Thomson’s new graphics card aimed at the HD set, and the second one based on Toshiba’s SpursEngine chip. Using same technology as the PS3, the chip is capable of hardware accelerated decoding of the MPEG2 and MPEG4 AVC/H.264 codecs, which lends the card some serious processing capabilities — the company claims it will transcode AVCHD files to and from MPEG2 up to five times faster than real time. On sale in Japan for ¥52,290 (US$539), those of us in the States should see the card sometime in December for $599.

[Via PC World]

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Firecoder Blu, Thomson’s SpursEngine graphics card, available in December originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 06:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 27

Cowon S9 Curve launching in the US mid-December with balls to spare

Posted in: Today's Chili

Oh boy, it’s almost here (we think). If we’re reading the machine translated text correctly, then Cowon’s S9 Curve, first revealed in August, is expected to land in the US mid-December. No price was listed for the 8GB / 16GB audio and video player with a 3.3-inch, 480 x 272 pixel AMOLED display and Bluetooth. Cowon is, however, pushing the player’s BBE technology (like that found in the A2) meant to doctor the sound quality. Nothing official on the rather pathetic Cowon America website, but we’ll let you know just as soon as something pops.

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Cowon S9 Curve launching in the US mid-December with balls to spare originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 06:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 27

Woolworths Enters Administration [Bargains Galore?]

Posted in: Today's Chili

woolworths front.jpgWoolworths, home to all kinds of home products, consumer technology, toys and gadgets, has officially gone into administration, putting 30,000 jobs on the line and becoming the biggest High St. casualty of the recession so far.

The group said it has entered administration following its failure to secure the sale of its 800 stores to restructuring company, Hilco. Although stores opened across the UK today, the fate of Woolies’ 30,000-strong workforce remains unknown.

In a statement, the company’s board said:

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Nov 27

iriver’s E100 reaches Season 2 on the Who Cares channel

Posted in: Today's Chili

Really? Was it just the choice of color holding you back from purchasing iriver’s respectable, monument to plastic? If so, you’re in luck, the E100 just reached “Season 2” which includes a re-run of all the same specs (up to 8GB storage, 2.4-inch display, audio/video playback) dipped in a few new color combinations. Better, yes, but it’s still just the E100. We’ll wait and see if they blow-out CES again like they did in January 2008 — that’s something worth caring about.

[Via Akihabara News]

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iriver’s E100 reaches Season 2 on the Who Cares channel originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 05:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 27

PURE Ups DAB Ante With Avanti

Posted in: Today's Chili

While there have been a rush of budget DAB radios hitting in market recent times, the latest offering from PURE is not one of them.

pure avanti flow.jpg

The Avanti Flow is for those that want everything crammed into one device. It’s described as a ‘high-performance’ DAB/FM/Internet radio with an iPod dock and some serious audio punch. The Avanti sports a 5.25in downward firing subwoofer, 2 x 3in mid range drive units and PURE’s Clearsound technology – an audio subsystem for producing better sound at higher volumes without using too much power.

With onboard Wi-Fi, the Avanti allows for an overdose of radio by allowing you to tune into Internet radio stations, DAB digital radio, FM, podcasts, ‘listen again content’ and media streaming from PCs or network storage.

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Nov 27

Nokia launching Z-Wave Home Control Center next year

Posted in: Today's Chili

Who doesn’t long for a smart home system that gives you full control of your thermostat, lighting, AV, and security system from the convenience of your cellphone? While many proprietary and “standards-based” off-the-shelf solutions exist, things quickly break down due to the lack of interoperability, cost, or sheer complexity of medium-to-large home automation designs. Enter Nokia who just announced its Home Control Center, a platform open for third parties to develop “plug and play” solutions, all of which can be controlled via your phone or PC from both inside and outside the home. HCC will let home owners switch devices on and off as they monitor and control their electricity usage while providing access to objects such as temperature sensors, cameras, and motion detectors. Ultimately it will integrate more complex systems like security, heating, and ventilation. Although few technical details were provided, a research paper from last year that outlined Nokia’s Smart Home strategy called for a 802.11n WiFi home gateway device (presumably from Nokia) with optional GSM/GPRS module integrating into a home network of Z-Wave and ZigBee-compliant devices. The system is expected to include pre-packaged Smart Home kits ranging from starter, security, energy, and baby monitoring when it goes retail (Europe first) by the end of 2009.

Update: Good news, remote access only requires a web browser. As such, you can use any cellphone with a decent browser to manage your home remotely.

Read — Press Release
Read — Product brief [Warning: PDF]
Read — Research paper [Warning: PDF]

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Nokia launching Z-Wave Home Control Center next year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 04:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 27

Obama Looking for Ways to Hold onto His Blackberry [BlackBerry Love]

Posted in: Today's Chili

It looks like President-Elect Obama isn’t going to give up his beloved BlackBerry this January without some sort of fight. In an interview with Barbara Walters, he revealed that he was working to find a solution to that whole surrender-your-cellphones-and-email-accounts at the door policy.

“One of the things that I’m going to have to work through is how to break through the isolation, the bubble that exists around the president,” Obama said. “And I’m in the process of negotiating with the Secret Service, with lawyers, with White House staff … to figure out how can I get information from outside of the 10 or 12 people who surround my office in the White House. Because one of the worst things I think that can happen to a president is losing touch with the struggles that people are going through every day.”

Interesting spin! Never knew the BlackBerry provided a way to get in touch with the common folk that newspapers and say… a White House blog or something… don’t. Still, all the luck to Obama and his changing the Presidential Records Act to be more tech-savvy. I wasn’t that convinced open official correspondence and using BlackBerries were mutually exclusive in the first place. [Gearlog]


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Nov 27

Nokia pulls out of Japan, nobody notices

Posted in: Today's Chili

It’s not like Nokia was dominating sales in Japan anyway — far from it. So it’s not too big a loss to walk away from its near 1 percent market share when it’s sitting atop a (dwindling) 40% 39% share globally. According to Nokia vice president Timo Ihamuotila, “We have judged that we cannot continue to invest in product development just for Japan amid the current tough economic conditions.” Nokia will continue to sell its luxury Vertu branded phones though, presumably on that MVNO Nokia is rumored to be rolling out this spring.

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Nokia pulls out of Japan, nobody notices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 03:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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