Hasta La Gadget!

Cork is a wonderful substance. It’s light, it’s durable, it’s sustainable, and, most importantly, it’s versatile. Designers have taken notice of this material (much like they have bamboo), and have begun working cork into contemporary design trends. Here are nine ingenious objects forged from cork. More »

Halo 4 will definitely be one of the biggest games of the year, so it really isn’t much of a surprise that some Xbox 360 owners are eager to download a pirated version of the game that popped up on torrent sites over the weekend. Microsoft isn’t taking this leak lightly though, as MCV reports that the company is handing out permanent Xbox Live bans to anyone caught playing the game with their console connected to the Internet. In other words, you might want to think twice before taking advantage of those Halo 4 torrents.

Of course, pirated versions of Halo 4 will only work on modded Xbox 360s, and why anyone would take their modded console onto Xbox Live is entirely beyond us. Some particularly dumb 360 owners are doing just that, though, as evidenced by the email MCV posted. The email is from the Live Enforcement Team, and lets the user know that they’ve violated the Xbox Live Code of Conduct. The punishment? Permaban, baby.

Though the email states that users won’t be able to log into Xbox Live during their suspension (which is never-ending in this case), it’s a little unclear at the moment if Microsoft is banning consoles or just gamertags – two very different things. If Microsoft is banning consoles, that means the console will never be able to access Xbox Live again, effectively bricking it as far as multiplayer and Xbox Live Arcade are concerned. If Microsoft is only banning gamertags, then the infringing gamer could just create a new tag and go online with that, which is a far less severe punishment.

In any case, you’re in for some headaches if you’re caught playing Halo 4 ahead of release while your 360 is connected to Live. Microsoft has launched an investigation to find out who leaked Halo 4 ahead of release, but in the meantime, the company is showing us that it has no problem at all with dropping the banhammer left and right. We’re going to go ahead and suggest that you just wait for Halo 4‘s official release on November 6 – yes, its release is still a few weeks off, but we’re thinking that waiting three weeks is much better than having your Xbox Live privileges taken away.

Halo 4 pirates feel the wrath of Microsoft’s banhammer is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

When Kate Gosselin found out that her reality show had been canceled back in November 2011, she told me money was the first thing that came to mind. Kate vowed to do whatever necessary to provide for her eight children, and insisted the amount of money she was rumored to have made was not accurate. However, a newly released book claims Kate earned at least $2,499,000 from her reality show, “Jon & Kate Plus 8.”

“I read what we apparently make and it’s hysterical. That would be a dream come true times two million. So it’s certainly way less than people think. We are not set for life,” Kate said in 2011. “You know, I need to work as soon as possible — as in yesterday.”

Now, the author of a controversial new book, “Kate Gosselin: How She Fooled The World,” claims to have detailed accounts of exactly how much Kate made for each of the first five seasons her show aired on TLC.

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Sometimes it’s the little things that mean the most in a relationship.

Just ask Twitter. On Monday, tweeters channeled their inner relationship experts, offering up their best tips to charm the lady in your life using the trending hash tag #GirlsLikeItWhenYou. Some things we learned? “Good morning” and ”goodnight” texts will get you far, but so will saying, “I love ‘Star Wars’ but I love you more” — and actually meaning it.

Click through for more romantic advice from the Twitterverse, then let us know what you think women want in relationships in the comments.

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Zeiss must be doing well in the lens business, as it hasn’t exactly been in a rush to get its Cinemizer OLED on to shelves. Still, we’re happy to say that the head-mounted display is at last slipping into retailers: Amazon partners are now carrying the regular 870 x 500 version for $749 in the US (German titling aside) and £578 in the UK. It doesn’t look to be the version with head tracking that we tried earlier this year, but you’ll still get a 3D image through HDMI 1.4 in addition to 2D through either the HDMI link or analog input. The price makes it a tempting alternative to the more advanced but costlier Sony HMZ-T2 — and for those who’d like something slightly more discreet-looking while they zone out with a good movie.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wearables, HD, Sony

Zeiss Cinemizer head-mounted OLED display wends its way into stores originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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