Hasta La Gadget!

Even more than in past years, the build-up to Apple’s iPod event this Wednesday has been nothing if not a bevy of The Beatles / iTunes rumors — the company even broke with its traditional Tuesday event date to have it instead on “09-09-09,” the same day The Beatles Rock Band and a new box set are due to hit store shelves. Now it looks like we’ve heard it from none other than Yoko Ono herself, who in a now-pulled Sky News article confirmed that the Fab Four’s headed for digital distribution. All that’s left of the piece is a Google cache of the first sentence, so for the full skinny, it looks like we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

Update: EMI is telling Financial Times that, while conversations are still going on, no announcements will be made tomorrow.

Read – Yoko Ono reveals Beatles on iTunes
Read – Google cache

Filed under: Portable Audio, Internet, Software

The Beatles finally coming to iTunes, according to Yoko Ono (update: EMI says not tomorrow) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The atmosphere is starting to get tense at the PCMag offices. That can only mean thing: It’s time for another Apple keynote. Our ground troops are flying out to the event as we speak, ready to live-blog the event tomorrow at 10 A.M. PST, 1 P.M. EST. In the meantime, we don’t have much to go on beyond the standard litany of rumors. Fortunately, we’ve got rumors in spades.

Given that the timing of the event, which coincides with Apple’s annual music announcement and the above fliers, seem not-so-subtly to confirm such focus, we think we’ve got a fairly good grasp on what the company will be discussing. After the jump, check out a roundup of guesses at what may be coming at us tomorrow, including a new Apple Tablet, The Beatles, camera-equipped iPods, and Steve Jobs himself. Oh, and if you think we’ve left something of the list, let us know.

Brutal Legend is the latest from legendary game designer Tim Schafer, who is responsible for such classics as Grim Fandango and Psychonauts. His latest adventure, undoubtedly the most mainstream yet, stars Jack Black as the voice of Eddie Riggs, a roadie for a metal band who finds himself transported to demonic, metal-infused world.

We got a chance to sit down with the near-final build of Brutal Legend in New York. Here’s how the game is shaping up:

Jeff:
Brutal Legend is a metal fan’s absolute fantasy come true. The game is overflowing with references and jokes about the genre and is sure to lure in gamers on charm alone. Beneath the metal spikes and skulls lies a hack and slash action/adventure game, but it seems that the overall production value, soundtrack, and presentation might be the winners here….

Lots of apps means lots of data.

(Credit: Matt Hickey)

There’s been a lot of talk lately of AT&T customers–especially iPhone users–getting fed up with the quality of service they’re getting with AT&T. Issues include dropped calls, shoddy coverage, and slow data speeds. People are upset that they have a fancy device that loses much of its usefulness when the network drops out. I can feel their pain.

Indeed, I saw the effect myself this last weekend. The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), one of the world’s largest gaming conventions, took place in Seattle, where I live. Thousands of the world’s nerdiest nerds were here, and, as you’d expect, many were using iPhones, meaning many were using AT&T’s 3G service.

PAX, which opened Friday, also had a handy guide on expojunkie.com for convention goers made especially for the iPhone. It featured maps, agendas, and other quick reference information to make PAX a better experience. The side effect was thousands of visitors using Seattle’s 3G coverage at the same time–in addition to the thousands of locals who already use it. Service slowed to a crawl.

By Saturday, the service was back up-to-speed for most of Seattle. AT&T may have hit a switch and turned on more towers. It has a team that monitors areas with major events and tweaks the network when one causes problems. Whatever the company did fixed it.

The blessing and the curse

But here’s the question: what are we to expect from AT&T when Apple sells millions of units of a revolutionary product that depends on its network and then provides millions of apps that put a huge burden on the same network? Do we really expect AT&T to be able to handle that much data?
…

Not content with a pricey system powered by the latest and greatest Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor? Then you’re just sort of madcap individual that CyberPower is looking for, as it has rolled out a new range of gaming rigs packing factory overclocked versions of said processors. That includes no less than five new models in Gamer Xtreme 1000 to 5000 series, which will be available with your choice of Core i5 750 (2.66GHz), i7 860 (2.80 GHz), or i7 870 (2.93 GHz) processors, and one of a number of different P55 chipset motherboards from manufacturers including Gigabyte, ASUS, EVGA, and MSI. Otherwise, you can expect some fairly high-end and fully configurable options across the board, and some equally high-end price tags for most of those options, although you can apparently get in on the base level for just $749.

CyberPower announces new range of overclocked Core i5, i7-based gaming rigs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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