2010 Porsche Panamera

Xbox 360 outsells the original Xbox, Microsoft heads down to the trophy shop

In the manner of a modern day fable on par with The Little Engine That Could or Rocky, Microsoft has just announced that sales of the Xbox 360 have outraced total sales of the original Xbox, a mere two days after the 360's third birthday on November 22. Do you feel yourself getting teary-eyed? Sure, the gang in Redmond could have stopped believing, or reaching for that rainbow (or whichever tired cliché you prefer), but it looks like all the hard work has paid off -- Microsoft has won a race with itself, and in doing so has given us all hope. To put this in perspective, a total of 25 million original Xboxes were sold during its lifecycle of November 2001 - May, 2005 (roughly three and a half years). The company has yet to release precise sales figures for the 360, but between price cuts in Europe, Black Friday, and the New Xbox Experience, they expect to ride out the tail end of this year with a huge sales boost. Great job, guys! We knew that some day your company would be a success.

source : engdget

GT(Game Trailer.com) is NOT Biased! PS3 is OUTDATED!

Look, I'm sick of all the kerfluffle about how GT is biased towards 360 and how GT favors 360 and how GT hates on PS3. That ends now! The fact remains that 360 has just released better content than PS3. Period. See what I did there? I put a period after Period. That means conclusion; the end of discussion. The reason why GT gives 360 games better scores in the reviews is because the games are simply better experiences. The main reason for this--and it is often an overlooked and underestimated one--is because the 360 controller is a far superior gaming device than the Sony controller. This is to be said within the context that we are talking about influential, significant, market moving franchises--eg. Gears of War 2, Call of Duty, GTA 4, Halo 3 for crying out loud! Have you tried playing any of the previously mentioned multi-platformed titles on the PS3 with that awkward, unintuitive Sony controller? It simply cannot compete. The 360 controller's design is sleeker, more form fitting, and lends itself to a much more instinctual gaming experience. That Sony controller has been around for how many years now? It's time to update, reinvent, and innovate, and that's exactly how Microsoft has managed to stay ahead of the curve. I had posted a forum about this very topic and got reported for inciting a flamewar as they call it. Before the forum could evolve into a discussion it was taken down, but I did receive a very constructive critique about my thoughts from a fellow GT member who claimed that the PS3's D-pad was superior to the 360's, especially in fighter games, to which I give him credit and agreement. However, this goes without noting that I was focusing on major blockbuster titles like the Halos and the Gears and the Call of Duty's; titles that move consoles and market share. Sony not only needs to update its controller, but it also needs to incorporate it with an enjoyable, story-driven exclusive franchise to rival the mind-blowing Microsoft heavyweights Gears of War and Halo franchises. Do this, and you shall live. Do it not, and every one of you will die today.

Toshiba Regza 42ZV555D: "World's first" upscaling TV

By Ian Morris, CNET.co.uk
Nov 13, 2008

That's right, you read the headline correctly. Toshiba has just claimed to have created the industry's first upscaling TVs, the Regza 42ZV555D and 46ZV555D LCDs. With such bold boasts flying around the Internet, we feel like making a few ourselves. Did you know that we invented blogging? Or that without Crave, there would be no Moon? No, we didn't think so, either. But we've looked into it and it's true. Honest.

Let us explain why we're stroking the skeptical cat here. All HDTVs have upscalers built in, because if they didn't, when you came to watch something that was shot in a resolution different to that of the screen, you'd end up with a postage stamp-sized bit of video. If you were watching something with dimensions of 720 x 576 pixels, it would float in the middle of a 1,920 x 1,080-pixel screen. We've lovingly demonstrated this concept in our image above.

In a high-definition TV, the smaller, standard-definition image is stretched to fit the full-screen resolution. The TV's upscaling hardware will also apply some video processing to make it look as good as possible. It will do some additional processing to turn a standard-definition, interlaced picture into a progressive one because LCD and most plasma TVs can display only a progressive image.

source: cnet asia

Philips 42PFL5203S LCD TV

Pixel Plus 2 HD for great details, depth and clarity

Pixel Plus 2 HD offers the unique combination of ultimate sharpness, natural detail, increased depth, vivid colors and smooth and natural motion from standard TV, High Definition signals and multimedia sources. Each pixel of the incoming picture is enhanced to better match the surrounding pixels, resulting in a more natural picture. Artifacts in compressed multimedia content are detected and reduced, ensuring that the picture is clean and razor sharp. Digital noise reduction ensures that the picture is perfectly smooth yet razor sharp.

HD LCD display, with a 1366 x 768p resolution

This WXGA display with state-of-the-art LCD screen technology gives you widescreen HD resolution of 1366 x 768p pixels. It produces brilliant flicker-free progressive scan pictures with optimum brightness and superb colors. This vibrant and sharp image will provide you with an enhanced viewing experience.

HD Natural Motion for ultra smooth motion in Full HD movies

n performance that surpasses the cinema!

28.9 billion colors for brilliant natural images

Vibrant and natural images from most advanced color processing. The 3 color channels (RGB) are optimized using 10 bit resolution, a total processing power of 28.9 billion colors. It produces vibrant colors while retaining excellent sharpness. The advanced algorithms detect subtle color shades , skin tones and processes these to give most natural colors

source: philips malaysia

All new Honda NSX technical illustration

Microsoft exec touts HD streaming over discs, suggests Xbox 360 will outlast PS3

Man, talk about talking tough. In a recent interview with Venture Beat, Microsoft executive Shane Kim pointed out that the impending New Xbox Experience would be the beginning of a "fascinating time as all of these different media evolve." Kim got rough when questioned about the value of a built-in Blu-ray player in Sony's PS3, stating that "Microsoft made the right decision by not including HD DVD or Blu-ray in its box and offering HD DVD as an accessory." Following up on that, he noted that "digital downloading of movies to the Xbox 360 over the online connection would likely prove more important than Blu-ray in the long run," and that it would continue producing the 360 "one day longer than the lifespan of the PlayStation 3." My, oh my.

[Via GameDaily]

Chinese pirates offering cheap AVCHD Blu-ray rips on disguised DVD-Rs

Just last week we heard that Warner Bros. was ending its home video / DVD business in South Korea due to rampant piracy, and now we've got a report from China suggesting that sophisticated pirates are duping buyers with faux Blu-ray Discs that are actually DVDs. As the story goes, movie pirates in select parts of Asia are ripping bona fide BDs and then burning them in AVCHD format (which uses 720 horizontal lines of resolution compared to Blu-ray's 1,080) on writable DVDs. Word on the street has it that these discs are being offered for around $7 each, and they even boast the BD hologram and the iconic blue hues on the packaging. Reportedly, none of the discs have made it outside of Asia just yet, but stay sharp should you ever get the urge to snag a discounted BD title while traveling abroad.

source: engadget

SuperSpeed USB 3.0 spec officially released, first chipset demonstrated

It's been nearly a year since we first saw the USB 3.0 connector make an appearance at CES, and after months of corporate infighting, spec-polishing, and technical navel-gazing, the future of consumer peripheral connectivity is here -- in the form of complete specifications and a demo. Yeah, so maybe SuperSpeed USB isn't making the most dramatic entrance ever, but hey, it doesn't have to with 4.8Gbps transfer speeds, improved power management, and backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 along for the ride. As expected, the first wave of devices won't hit until 2010, but Symwave's giving attendees of this week's SuperSpeed conference a taste of tomorrow with a demo of the Quasar USB 3.0 chipset, which is targeted at "sync-and-go" devices like phones and media players. Sounds lovely -- now if you'll excuse us, we have to go back to mourning the death of FireWire 400.

USB 3.0 to Deliver a Tenfold Speed Increase

Tighten your seat belts. Data transfer is going into overdrive as the ubiquitous Universal Serial Bus, better known as USB, prepares to make a tenfold jump in speed.

That means the vast sea of USB devices -- from HD camcorders to hard drives and music players -- will be able to transfer music, video, photos and other data much, much more quickly.

The new standard, the first update to the USB specification in eight years, will also deliver greater power efficiency and the ability to recharge a wider variety of gadgets -- and it will most likely mean the death of the competing standard known as FireWire.

To get a sense of the speed increase, consider this: Transferring high-definition video of 27 GB, the amount on a standard Blu-Ray disc, takes about 10 minutes with the current USB 2.0 standard. With USB 3.0, it will take just about a minute.

"What the user will see is really a much faster response time, less waiting, more productivity," says Patrick Moorhead, vice president of advanced marketing at AMD, one of the supporters of the USB 3.0 standard.

BlackBerry Storm vs. Apple iPhone: 8 reasons pro and con

With RIM’s (RIMM) touchscreen BlackBerry Storm set to be released in the United States next Friday, CIO.com has published eight reasons to choose the Storm over Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone.

The same day, it published eight reasons to pick the iPhone over the Storm.

Both pieces are by Al Sacco, who probably doesn’t pay for the phones he reviews.

Here’s why he prefers the Storm:

1. Stereo Bluetooth capability
2. Removable battery
3. Expandable memory
4. Video recording
5. Works as a tethered modem
6. Tactile feedback
7. Copy and paste
8. Multitasking

Here’s why he prefers the iPhone

1. It’s now second-generation
2. Built-in memory
3. iTunes App Store
4. iTunes integration
5. Full QWERY (virtual) keyboard
6. Wi-Fi support
7. iPod media player
8. Safari browser

NVIDIA's Quadro FX 5800 with 4GB graphics memory is 'the most powerful graphics card in history'

That's some serious boasting by NVIDIA, but this is some serious graphics horsepower. The Quadro FX 5800, already seen in NVIDIA's Quadro Plex D data cruncher, replaces the 5600 at the top of the NVIDIA heap with 240 CUDA-programmable parallel cores and the industries first card with 4GB of graphics memory. MSRP? Just $3,499 for you big spender -- pennies for the companies who can harnass the power for the purposes of oil and gas exploration, 4D modeling, and graphics design

Ericsson: 20 megapixel cellphones shooting Full HD video in 4 years

It's tough to predict the future, especially with cutbacks to R&D budgets in the face of a global economic slowdown. Still, it's always nice to see a forward-looking corporate-slide related to mobile handsets from the taller, blonder half of that Sony Ericsson partnership. LTE and fast CPUs are certainly no surprise, nor is that 1,024 x 768 XGA screen resolution that Japan's superphones are already bumping up against. The most compelling vision is that of the embedded camera sensors: 12-20 megapixels capable of recording Full HD video by 2012. Adding more fuel to firey speculation that handsets are about to find themselves embroiled in a megapixel war. Fine by us, just as long the optics and image processing are there to support such a resolution. Even though 12-20 megapixels seems high compared to the 5-8 megapixel cell phones we see today, those numbers are entirely within reason when you recall that Samsung hit 10 megapixels in Korea two years ago. In fact, we wouldn't be suprised in the least to find Ericsson's mythical device on the market well prior to 2012. Combined, these features certainly make for a tantalizing glimpse at the wireless handset future.

Gears of War 2 sells 2.1 million on day one

According to early retailer reports, and user polls, Gears of War 2 is shaping up to be one of the biggest Xbox 360 titles to date, putting it in very similar territory to blockbusters 'Halo 3' and 'Grand Theft Auto IV'

Using the aforementioned data, Gears of War 2 looks to have debuted to midnight and Friday sales of 1,400,000 units in North America, and 700,000 units in 'Others' territories. This would represent about two thirds of Halo 3's massive debut, which wound up with 3.8 million units sold it's first week on the market.

Due to the US Election taking place on the 4th November, the release date for Gears 2 was moved back to Friday the 7th meaning that "week one" sales will be made up of two days sales - expected to come in at around 2.5 million worldwide. The implication of this is that week two sales should show a lower than normal dropoff so it is entirely possible that the game may hit 3.5 million sold by the end of week two - in just nine days.

As you can see, Gears of War 2 is shaping up to be a formidable competitor in the November NPD data, and looks to eclipse Gears of War 1 worldwide sales by the end of the year (which is at 5.2 million units).

source : n4g.com

The wait is over

Finally, Gears of war 2 has arrived. Just got my Limited Edition copy. Bought it at Gamers Hideout, Cineleisure. Been there since 10am but they opened at 1230+!!! But its worth it.
Will battle the Locust Harde again & surely its going to be huge!!!!

exclusive on Xbox360....

Maradona lands Argentina job

LEGEND Diego Maradona has been confirmed as the new Argentina boss.

The Argentinian Football Association gave the move the green light at a meeting in Buenos Aires today.

Maradona, 48, replaces Alfio Basile, who stepped down for personal reasons last month.

The star, who led his country to the 1986 World Cup, will now plan for his first game against Scotland at Hampden Park on November 19.

Maradona, who will work alongside new technical secretary Carlos Bilardo, said: “Being the coach of the national team and being alongside Carlos is an honour for me.

“I will do my best to succeed. We will work every day to make Argentina have a better national team day by day."

Bilardo was Argentina coach in 1986 and will work closely with his former player in the new set-up.

Maradona has also revealed that he wants Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano as his new skipper.

He said: “I want Mascherano to be my captain because I believe he is the Argentinian player who is closest to the idea I have about the Argentinian shirt.

"Sweat for it, sacrifice for it, being a professional, being close to the team-mate.

“I will convince him. He will be my captain.”

Wrap Is Called on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

It's official. Michael Bay has called wrap on his upcoming sequel Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, which is part two of the Hasbro toy line franchise that hit big in 2007 with Transformers. Nelson reports from Michael Bay's own personal blog with the following message:

Nelson here. As of this week, principal photography for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has ended. Congrats to Michael and his team.

That means the film is heading into the editing suite, where it will be completed for a June 26th, 2009 release date.

Alienware's surprise: the CrossFire X-enabled M17 gaming notebook

When it said evolutionary, it wasn't kidding around. Alienware has just taken the wraps off of a relatively uninspiring (or, unworthy of hype, we should say) new laptop: the M17. Not to be confused with the M17x, this 17-incher is the outfit's very first CrossFire X-enabled notebook, and those with the requisite coin can get one outfitted with a Core 2 Quad / Extreme CPU, up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, twin ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 GPUs, a WXGA+ / WUXGA panel, an optional ATSC HDTV tuner, up to 640GB of HDD space in a RAID 0 array, a dual-layer DVD writer / optional Blu-ray reader, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, gigabit Ethernet and a facial recognition sensor. As with most of its siblings, this one puts a beating on the scales at 9.5-pounds, and we're certain you can deplete that 12-cell battery in no time flat. Granted, it does get going at "just" $1,399, but you can expect that figure to head far north when you add anything drool-worthy to the build sheet.

Sony Ericsson's new ad shows off the C905's camera and absolutely nothing else

An ad campaign shot entirely on a mobile phone camera? Well, Sony Ericsson -- claiming to be the first -- has done it, using the C905, ostensibly to prove what an awesome (8.1-megapixel) camera it boasts. The results can be found exclusively in December's issue of FHM, and are what Sony Ericsson Marketing Director David Hilton calls an "amazing opportunity" to "show off the capabilities" of the Cyber-shot. So let's just get this straight: your ad uses a professional model, a fashion photographer, professional lighting, and makeup, not to mention all that retouching, and we're supposed to be impressed with the camera? Okay, we'll admit it: we're pretty impressed.

source: engadget

New PS3 low in Japan - How next-gen is failing in home of gaming

Another week goes by, and Sony sees the PS3, supposedly its flagship console, dropping even lower in terms of sales in Japan. While the Xbox 360 is doing surprisingly well in the country, both true next-gen consoles are massively behind lesser machines such as the Wii, the DS, and the PSP. So why is the spiritual home of gaming seemingly rejecting next-gen gaming?

The latest weekly sales figures to come out of Japan, those for the week ending October 26th, show that the PSP is massively out in front, selling over 60,000 units in the space of a week. The Wii is still sitting pretty on 24,000, while the DS has dropped back a little (no doubt due to the imminent release of the DSi), but still managed sales of 22,000.

Then, there is a massive drop to the Xbox 360 on 7,844, with the PS2 just behind on 6,962. The Playstation 3, supposedly the most powerful games console ever made, and a console developed and manufactured by a home-grown Japanese company, only managed to sell 3,931 units - a new low for the machine.

Xbox 360 owners will rightly call this a victory, and the seven weeks in a row that the Microsoft console has beaten out the PS3 is impressive to say the least. It’s also proof that the Xbox seems to have turned a corner in Japan, with a combination of new games and a lower price point making the Xbox a more worthy purchase for gamers.

PSP - 60,467
Wii - 24,292
DS - 22,965
Xbox 360 - 7,844 ( its 7 weeks in a row now!!!! )
PS2 - 6,962
PS3 - 3,931 ( What happen???? )

Proton MPV compare to Grand Livina

These two shots were snapped on the NKVE by reader Reza, who happened to be on the same route as the MPV from the Jalan Duta toll until the ELITE exit.

Click for enlarged image

What’s interesting about the shot above is the fact that the Proton MPV is right behind a silver Nissan Grand Livina, who Reza said appeared to be travelling together with the Proton MPV. This allows us to estimate the size of the Proton MPV as compared to the Nissan Grand Livina. An estimation shows that the Proton MPV is slightly larger than the Nissan Grand Livina, but we can’t really be 100% sure about this as there could be some perspective errors.

Click for enlarged image

This second shot shows the LEDs of the Proton MPV’s rear taillamps lighting up.

Source: paultan.org

Western Digital quietly intros WD TV HD Media Player

Well, what do we have here? With no fanfare whatsoever, Western Digital has apparently strayed from its platter-based roots and delved into the wide, murky world of HD media streaming. The WD TV HD Media Player purports to "turn your USB drive into an HD media player, allowing you to watch your favorite HD movies on your TV." For those still befuddled, look at it like this: it enables you to plug in your USB key or USB hard drive and play back multimedia clips up to 1080p on your HDTV via the HDMI / composite outputs. The 1.6- x 4.9- x 3.9-inch box ought not bog you down too much when looking to take it on a journey, and the $129.99 price tag isn't too painful either.

source: engadget