.::REALITYRECALL::.

Chrome: If you like how Apple Mail adds sender’s pictures to messages, or you’re just better with faces than names, the Gmail Sender’s Picture is a no-brainer. It simply inserts a person’s Google Profile pic into your Gmail conversations with them. More »









Google – Searching – Search Engines – Companies – Google Chrome

An earthquake has rocked Southern California, shaking the Los Angeles area and forcing a brief pause in the Toronto Blue Jays’ baseball game against the Padres in San Diego.

Dion Phaneuf is the new captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

We’ve unboxed our first 250GB Xbox 360 (the Xbox 360 ‘Slim’ to the layman) and we’ve gotta tell you: it felt good. Stand by for more shots.

Update: Here they are, we’ve got video on the way as well. Here are some initial thoughts:

• The touch sensitive buttons quickly asserted themselves as not-the-best-thing-ever when we were unable to tell if we’d turned the Xbox on under the bright lights of Microsoft’s setup. We’re sure we’d see the green glow easily in our dark entertainment center at home, but it’s a small little inconvenience — one that PS3 owners are well aware of.
• The touch sensitive eject button isn’t so bad, because the tray seems uber fast — we didn’t clock it, but we’d say it pops out faster than our existing Xbox.
• The Xbox feels just about as heavy as the existing Xbox, although the power adapter is smaller and much lighter.
• We booted up Alan Wake and while we were in a relatively loud room, we didn’t find the Xbox to be loud at all. We’ll have to get it in the labs to see how it stacks up with the original, but Microsoft obviously had noise pollution in its sights here. They worked directly with the drive manufacturer to reduce every source of noise (including air turbulence!), and dub their accomplishment “whisper quiet.”
• This is a personal opinion, but we think it looks pretty badass in person, though not at all a wild shift from the existing look.

Update 2: We’ve got video after the break! It’s very exciting, we assure you.

Continue reading Xbox 360 250GB first unboxing!

Xbox 360 250GB first unboxing! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At first we were doubtful that a edgy box appearing in a little Flash ad from Italy last night could be legit, but Microsoft just got real with the new Xbox 360. (That’s all it’s officially called — just “the new Xbox 360.”) It’ll launch today priced for $299, while the old Elite will stick around for $249 and the Arcade will drop to $149. The new box is crazy sexy in glossy black with touch-sensitive buttons, and Microsoft says it’s “whisper quiet,” with one large fan instead of two — the new 45nm chipset undoubtedly generates less heat to begin with. On the features front, it’s got integrated 2.4GHz 802.11n WiFi, five USB ports, and 250GB of storage on a removable hard drive, although it’s not a standard drive or same drive as the old console, and older Memory Units won’t work, either. Upgraders can use a USB-to-Xbox hard drive connector cable to migrate to the new box, however. There’s also a “custom Kinect port” on the back that looks like an HTC-style ExtUSB port, and it also seems like the power supply has moved inside the case, which is a welcome change. New Xbox 360 units are shipping to retailers now, with availability expected later this week, and MS conference attendees are actually getting theirs shipped today.

If you’re in Europe, don’t fret, as yours is coming soon. Microsoft’s official Xbox Twitter account has confirmed the console hits there on July 16.

Update: We just got the official fact sheet, check it after the break. Oh, and we’re calling it the “Stealthbox” to keep all the models straight. It just feels right, you know?

Update 2: According to a Microsoft representative, the Xbox 360 Original will still be sold while there’s stock, but they’re not making any more of them. Once they’re gone, they’re gone — and we’d assume a new $199 variant of the new design will eventually be released to fill the void.

Continue reading New Xbox 360 gets official at $299, shipping today, looks angular and ominous (video hands-on!)

Filed under: Gaming

New Xbox 360 gets official at $299, shipping today, looks angular and ominous (video hands-on!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For the second time in less than a week, the Saskatchewan government is saying it will put more money into its battle against mosquitoes.

There will be 15 total launch titles when it hits on November 4. That includes the lightsaber battle game! More »









Microsoft – Xbox – Project Natal – Video game – Games

With Kinect, you can do video chats with other Xbox users (with Kinect), as well as Windows Live Messenger on the PC. Microsoft’s also talked about Windows Phone 7. More »









Microsoft – Xbox – Windows Live Messenger – Video game – Games

Thought Kinect was just for kicking balls and making a fool of yourself? Oh now, you can now use it to do everything from find your friends and to control media playback. With a wave the Xbox 360 pops into a new Dashboard which you can manage by moving your hands around. It also supports voice control, enabling you to say “Xbox Play” or “Xbox Pause” or, you know, whatever. Easy!

Microsoft demos new Kinect dashboard and voice control originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Everything we know about the composition of the universe may be wrong, according to physicists.

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