Microsoft Corp. today announced an all-in-one opportunity to jump into the controller-free fun of Kinect this holiday: the all-new Xbox 360 4GB console, the revolutionary Kinect sensor and “Kinect Adventures” packaged together for $299.99 (U.S. ERP). With “Kinect Adventures,” players will make their way through 20 adventures, navigating roaring rapids and ducking and dodging through mountaintop obstacle courses and other exotic locations – no controller, wand or balance board required. In addition, existing Xbox 360 console owners can purchase the Kinect sensor with “Kinect Adventures” for $149.99 (U.S. ERP). The sensor, which will work with each of the 40 million Xbox 360 consoles currently in households worldwide,1 is uniquely able to track your full body movements, respond to your voice and deliver a multiplayer experience right out of the box.

In addition, the new Xbox 360 4GB console, which begins shipping on Aug. 3 in the U.S., will be available for $199.99 (U.S. ERP). With a sleek new design, the Xbox 360 4GB console looks great and includes built-in Wi-Fi N, 4GB of internal flash memory, touch-sensitive buttons and a black matte finish.2

“Kinect for Xbox 360 offers tremendous entertainment value for the whole family,” said Dennis Durkin, Xbox 360 chief operating officer. “With full body, voice and the ability to play games with your friends right out of the box, Kinect is the most unique, complete and affordable way for everyone to enjoy controller-free fun and entertainment.”

With more than 15 games available at launch, living rooms will become fitness rooms, dance clubs and sports stadiums. Kinect games, including “Kinectimals,” “Kinect Sports,” “Kinect Joy Ride” and MTV Games’ and Harmonix’s “Dance Central” will retail for $49.99 (U.S. ERP). In addition to games, Kinect changes the way you experience entertainment by putting your favorite movies, TV programs, music and live sports from ESPN all in one place. Begin a movie by simply saying, “Xbox, play,” or browse through a music list with the wave of a hand. Kinect also creates new ways for friends and family to have fun together. With Video Kinect,3 share a smile with friends and family, as you open a window into living rooms around the world.

“I think Kinect is a major leap forward in the gaming experience that will appeal to both mainstream and casual gamers,” said Michael Gartenberg, partner, Altimeter Group, and author of the Engadget Entelligence column.
Starting today, select retailers are taking pre-orders for the Xbox 360 Kinect Console Bundle at $299.99 (U.S. ERP) and Kinect for Xbox 360 at $149.99 (U.S. ERP). Pre-order Kinect or the Xbox 360 Kinect Console Bundle today, and at launch receive a token to download three exclusive game levels for “Kinect Adventures,” the game included with Kinect.4 Those wanting more information or to pre-order now should go to http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/wheretobuy.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Apple Tuesday unveiled a completely redesigned Mac® mini, featuring up to twice the graphics performance, a new HDMI port and a new SD card slot, all in an amazingly compact aluminum enclosure. Mac mini is the world’s most energy efficient desktop and starting at $699, is the most affordable way to enjoy Mac OS® X, iLife® or Mac OS X Snow Leopard® Server.

“The sleek, aluminum Mac mini packs great features, versatility and value into an elegant, amazingly compact design,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With twice the graphics performance, HDMI support and industry-leading energy efficiency, customers are going to love the new Mac mini.”

Created with the unibody construction process pioneered by Apple, the new Mac mini features a compact aluminum enclosure just 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches thin. A new integrated power supply eliminates the need for an external power adapter, reducing overall system volume by 20 percent and keeping cable clutter to a minimum. A removable panel underneath provides quick access for memory expansion. Mac mini is incredibly versatile, effortlessly connecting to existing peripherals such as mice, keyboards and digital displays, while the new HDMI output connects Mac mini to an HDTV and the new SD card slot enables easy transfer of photos and videos from a digital camera.

Inside its sleek, compact enclosure, the new Mac mini includes the fastest integrated graphics processor on the market today. With 48 processing cores, the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor delivers up to twice the graphics performance of its predecessor, making Mac mini ideal for graphics intensive applications or visually rich games. Mac mini comes standard with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 320GB hard and 2GB of RAM for $699.

With twice the graphics performance, the new Mac mini is still the world’s most energy efficient desktop.* The new Mac mini reduces power consumption by an incredible 25 percent to less than 10W at idle, less than half the power required by competing systems. Mac mini meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.** The new aluminum enclosure is highly recyclable and Mac mini uses PVC-free components and cables, contains no brominated flame retardants and features material-efficient system and packaging designs.

Mac mini comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto®, to easily organize and manage photos; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use new features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand® which introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar.

Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server fulfills all the server needs of a workgroup or small business including email, calendar, file serving, Time Machine® backup, Wiki Server, Podcast Producer and more. Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server uses less than 11W of power at idle, a fraction of the power consumed in comparison to typical entry-level tower servers.*** Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server is faster than before with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two 500GB hard drives now running at 7200 rpm, 4GB of RAM and supports unlimited clients for $999.

Pricing & Availability
The new Mac mini is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The Mac mini, for a suggested retail price of $699 (US), includes:

• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB of shared L2 cache;
• 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable up to 8GB;
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm;
• NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics;
• AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• Gigabit Ethernet;
• four USB 2.0 ports;
• SD card slot;
• one FireWire® 800 port;
• one HDMI port and one Mini DisplayPort;
• HDMI to DVI video adapter;
• combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack); and
• combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).

Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB hard drive running at 5400 rpm, Apple Remote, Aperture™ 3, Final Cut® Express 4, Logic® Express, iWork® (pre-installed), Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Apple 24 inch LED Cinema Display and the AppleCare® Protection Plan.

The Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server, for a suggested retail price of $999 (US), includes:

• 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB of shared L2 cache;
• 4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable up to 8GB;
• two 500GB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm;
• NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics;
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• Gigabit Ethernet;
• four USB 2.0 ports;
• SD card slot;
• one FireWire 800 port;
• one HDMI port and one Mini DisplayPort;
• HDMI to DVI video adapter;
• combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack); and
• combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).

Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, External SuperDrive, Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Apple 24 inch LED Cinema Display and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

Popularity: 4% [?]

According to many sources AT&T has had many emails stolen from its system by hackers. The security breach only affected the  3g model of the iPad.  The list of people who’s email has been stolen includes some high level executives and military officials. The breach is only supposed to have got emails and emails only.  Is this Apple hint to move to Verizon ? We will just have to wait and see.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Quick intro in case you haven’t heard: On April 19th, Gizmodo put up a post fully dissecting Apple’s next iPhone (except for the software – they couldn’t turn the damn thing on (it was remotely killed by Apple)). Here’s the catch: Apple has never announced any next-gen iPhone yet. It was discovered (on March 18th – one whole month before Gizmodo broke the news) in a Redwood City, California bar disguised as a current iPhone 3GS. It seems that some Apple employee (lets just call him Gray Powell) left it behind, probably doing some field testing,  and was found by a bar patron (who, according to CNet, has been identified by police (UPDATE: His name is Brian J. Hogan). The phone eventually found its way into the sweaty palms of Gizmodo, which ran them a tasty $5000, though at this time it is not clear who exactly sold them the phone (UPDATE: Yes it is – It was the same guy who found it; see link re: Brian J. Hogan).

Last week, news broke that a criminal investigation was under way, and hours later police served a search warrant on the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen and seized his computers and other electronic equipment. Some are accusing Apple of launching this entire police operation.

(Want a visual aid for this whole fiasco? Check out an ingenious flow chart created by Fast Company below, after the break!)

Has Apple gotten off their game? Or is this the most brilliant marketing scheme ever devised? Here’s why I think the Apple Marketing team has seriously topped themselves.

(Continued after the break –>)

1. Apple has always been known to be one of the most top secret companies (if not the most top secret) when it comes to unreleased products (I once read that they test different parts of a product in different departments so that even their own employees do not know what the finished product of their labor is going to be).
   • They of course field test their products all the time, but how an Apple employee could forget a next-gen iPhone (even a prototype) is beyond me. I’ll bet you that’s going to be the last beer paid on Apple’s tab!
2. Some new juicy info uncovered by Wired.com states that Apple tried approaching the guy who the iPhone in the bar (who we might as well be calling Indiana Jones, because from the way tech world has reacted, it seems like this dude found the frickin’ Holy Grail) before the police did. Turns out just the guy’s roommate was there, who would not let them.
   • Apple of course took this course of action to re-obtain what was rightfully theirs, but perhaps there was something more to it?
3. Since Apple likes doing things behind closed doors, why launch a very loud and public police investigation?
   • This could only keep them in the public eye longer, and thus continue to be on people’s minds. The iPad was released a few weeks before this news broke, and over those few weeks until around the 19th Apple was in the headlines with iPad reviews and impressions. The Wifi+3G iPad is going on sale this weekend, but this debacle will definitely keep developing until Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) which begins on June 7th. At that point Apple will likely releasesomething, perhaps even the very device that has been exposed here – expect stock prices to explode.
4. Apple’s key to marketing has been getting consumers ripe with anticipation for a product’s release. Once the thing is unleashed, the world pounces on it like leopards! (Yes, yes; that was a slight nod to Apple’s OS)
   • Some of the hardware Gizmodo uncovered answer many of worlds cries for what they have wanted to see on the iPhone for a while: front-facing camera (I’m excited for that), “much higher resolution screen than the iPhone 3GS” (though not “HD” – perhaps something better? Something alien-like?), larger back-camera (my own speculation would be a 5 megapixel cam (Update: Looks like my speculation may hold some ground: Check out this rumor via Engadget), and  camera flash.
   • Putting an iPhone out in the wild with these hardware specs is Apple telling their fanboys (and the world) that they are listening and taking their pleas into consideration. Even if this isn’t the final design we may see at WWDC, Apple just earned like a bazillion kudos points with it’s consumers.

So, now that I have imparted by knowledge onto you – what do you think? Marketing scheme or a complete screw by what may now be a once great company (ok, maybe that stretching it a bit)?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Actually, it is more likely to turn computers OFF.

If you’re a Windows XP user and you are presented with an option today to download an update to McAfee (anti-virus software), do yourself a favor – DON’T. A seemingly routine McAfee update has caused computers running Windows XP to shut down. WORLDWIDE. Since many corporate entities operate on Windows XP, this is going to cause quite the problem. Engadget.com has reported that they know that an Intel facility as well as Dish Network call centers have been affected, but that’s only an initial report.

For the nerds among us, Engadget described the issue as being: “DAT update 5958 deletes the svchost.exe file, which then triggers a false-positive in McAfee itself and sets off a chain of uncontrolled restarts and loss of networking functionality”. Basically – the computer thinks that it is infected when it is not. Sort of like a really bad reaction to a vaccine.

Since the incident has occurred McAfee has (obviously) pulled the faulty update from their site and has released a fix for said update. A fix which only works for those who have not been affected by the bug. Yikes! Even with a fix, a McAfee tech needs to personally attend to each machine affected. Looks like we’re going to be hearing about this one for a while. The day the terminators turned on themselves.

As you would imagine, Twitter is all aflutter, as it always is when something BAD happens. Some cursing McAfee to all kinds of high heaven, others thanking G-d that they have a Mac (like me!).

So, anyone here think this might be a deliberate attack? Or some McAfee tester really screwed up (like messed with the world economy kind of screwed up)? Are we all soon doomed to a computer-less existence (at least an XP-less existence)?

(Originally posted on I On T3chnology – Jake’s official tech blog)

Popularity: 4% [?]

From day 1, Twitter’s “business model” was split up into two parts: 1) Create a service everyone wants to use. With over 50 million registered users, I would say that part one has been fulfilled. 2) Figure out a way to make money from this service. Starting today, the wheels for fulfilling that goal have been put in motion.

Known as “Promoted Tweets”, this will be Twitter’s foray into actually making money. Since its beginning, Twitter and it’s co-founder Biz Stone have looked into different ways of monetizing the service, without pissing off its users. The model unveiled today, will follow Google’s highly successful ad model: insert ads at the top of the search results page that are related to the term being searched.

As described by Twitter:

“You will start to see Tweets promoted by our partner advertisers called out at the top of some Twitter.com search results pages. We strongly believe that Promoted Tweets should be useful to you. We’ll attempt to measure whether the Tweets resonate with users and stop showing Promoted Tweets that don’t resonate. Promoted Tweets will be clearly labeled as “promoted” when an advertiser is paying, but in every other respect they will first exist as regular Tweets and will be organically sent to the timelines of those who follow a brand.”

The first guinea pigs in Twitter’ first foray into actually turning profit (they hope) will be Best Buy, Virgin America, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Bravo, and Starbucks Coffee.

I’ll admit it, I don’t really care much for Twitter. There, it’s out in the open. I have an account, I’ve tweeted a little bit (most of which are just automatic when I put up a new blog post), but I still haven’t found a need/use for it in my life. The times I use it most is when it’s to participate in some sort of contest. When I first got an account I was able to connect with fellow social media enthusiasts, but that kind of tapered off.

Since I am not a hardcore Twitterer, I can’t say for sure how this will impact Twitterers as a whole. But who said I can’t speculate?

As it stands now, these ads will only show up when you search for a specific term, a la’ Google Search. Over time, according to the Wall Street Journal, these ads may make their way into the stream users see when they log in to the site, which means they will even see the ads if they are using a third party app (Tweetie, Tweetdeck, Twidroid, etc.). Also, these ads will only be seen by 2% to 10% of Twitter users in the first few days of its initial rollout. So initially, I think these ads will not be intrusive or annoying at all. When they begin to roll out into the general tweet stream, that may be another story. Though many of these third-party applications have ways of filtering out tweets from the stream, so if you find them a pain in the ass, you can just get rid of them (essentially). Will Twitter know if the ads are being filtered? Even more, will they know if specific ads are being filtered?

Well that is why Twitter has built a set of rubrics for ads they call “resonance”. If an ad is performing poorly (doesn’t work, isn’t click/viewed/shared often), Twitter will notify the advertiser and pull the ad. This will benefit both the advertiser and the user.

How will Twitter decided which ads to incorporate into your stream? Whether it be based on geographic location (somewhat easy to do, considering most of twittering is done from mobile phone, the majority of which nowadays has built-in GPS chips), tweet history, or the types of people you follow, that is a question for a little bit down the road.

Popularity: 2% [?]

According to a screen capture @ 9 :09 in apples last week event there seem to be a embedded i-sight camera in Steve Jobs iPad. Although, it could be the ambient light sensor. Mission:Repair (Certified Mac Technicians) have reported to received repair parts for the iPad and there seem to be a camera area on those too!

What you guys think?

Popularity: 5% [?]

The Apple “ iTablet” finally got its name and image today at Steve Jobs keynote.  The iPad is official. The Hype has been a long time coming but its finally here!

The apple iPad is going to retail starting @ $499 for the 16GB, 32GB for $599, and $699 64GB. Adding 3G costs a $130 per model. The WiFi-only model will ship in 60 days, and the 3G models will come in 90.

The iPad is a half-inch thick and weighs only 1.5 pounds, with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display.

it’s running a custom 1GHz Apple “A4″ chip developed by the P.A. Semi team, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby.

The iPad comes built in with a 30-pin Dock connector a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, and 802.11n WiFi, and an accelerometer and a compass as well.

There’s also a keyboard dock, which connects underneath in the portrait orientation. The device can be synced and managed by iTunes.

As expected, it can run iPhone apps .The 3G version comes with new data plans: 250MB for $14.99  and  unlimited plan for $29.99 a month contract-free on… AT&T.

Activations and cancellations  are handled on the iPad, so you can activate and cancel whenever you want.

Every iPad comes GSM unlocked, so you can use it with your favorite carrier..

Whats your thoughts? COMMENT!

Keep it to The Gadget 411 for more info!

Popularity: 11% [?]

Well this sure isn’t something I’ve seen before. With all this “2010 is the year of the tablet” talk, did you feel that you were going to have to make the choice between a tablet and a laptop/netbook? Well Lenovo may just have the answer: Get both! The answer comes in their IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, a device that has yet to be revealed at CES (which starts on January 7th in Las Vegas). No one has actually gotten their dirty little mittens on “Hannah Montana” laptop, as I am dubbing it (because when you dock/undock the tablet/screen, its a whole different “person”! Get it?). In fact, after a quick Google News search, only Engadget has published an article about this interesting little hybrid.

Due to the dual nature of the IdeaPad U1, its specs need to separated into 2 lists:

While in full laptop mode (or, as “Hannah Montana”):

• CULV Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• 3.8 pounds

When the screen/tablet is removed (or, as “Miley Cyrus”):

• Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon chip
• 16 GB SSD
• Boots Lenovo’s Skylight Linux interface

Price: $999

Release: Sometime in June

Tune back to The Gadget 411 for more detailed specs when Lenovo officially announced the U1 Hybrid at CES!

(In all honesty, I can’t wait until they release the IdeaPad U2. Talk about a product placement made in heaven Bono!)

Popularity: 6% [?]

The new decade is already poised to start off in a huge way in the tech world. Google has a press conference scheduled for Monday in which they will be releasing the Nexus One, their first foray into the world of hardware. Some say this is going to be to the first “true” Google phone. Engadget already got their hands on one. Check out their first impressions.

Also, rumors have been at all time high for Apple’s “universe-changing” tablet/ebook/large-iPhone/iSlate(?). Rumors about this device have been around for at least five years, and kind of died down with the release of the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Now some serious sources like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and many others seem to be pretty confident that this “God gadget” will be coming in 2010. Some have even concluded that an Apple event will be held at the end of the month and will focus on the “mobile computing space” (aka a tablet). After waiting years for a touch-screen iPod because of rumors of its release every other week, I now only believe it when I see it. Though this time, with the fever pitch of rumors, I may just believe it before I see it. Just like the iPod changed the music industry this past decade, the Apple tablet may change the print industry over the next decade. The end of the month couldn’t come soon enough. If this “iSlate” actually does come out then, you bet you’ll be hearing from me about it!

So, which of these tech news items gets you excited/hopeful for the coming year/decade? Sound off in the poll after the break!

Popularity: 12% [?]