Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Someone clearly didn’t want Microsoft fans being left out at this time of extreme Apple coverage. In an interview with SFGate, Robbie Bach manages to deftly deny the rumored Xbox / Blu-ray match-up, deny a Zune Phone is coming anytime soon (although he intimates Zune software may come to phones), but still cleverly suggests that a Zune Touch could be in the offing. Of course, by “cleverly suggest” we mean he mentions the possibility of a device with touch capabilities, which is like saying Dell might release a laptop with a keyboard. Is that the device pictured above? No silly, that’s just someone’s Photoshop work. Steve Jobs — anything to say about this?

[Via wmpoweruser; Image courtesy anythingbutipod]

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

If you were starting to get worried that the new Gizmondo device would never see the light of day, fear not! According to an interview with Carl Freer, the company is hard at work on its next handheld, which he claims will feature a number of improvements on the previous, practically perfect iteration. First up, the new system will be built atop Windows CE 6 (which Freer claims has lots of “new goodies”), utilizes a separate graphics chip, will be an open platform with a readily available SDK, and can grab content form a web portal (Gizmondo.com, likely). Most interesting of all, however, is that Freer says the old Gizmondo units will be returning to store shelves. All of this magic is said to be happening by the end of the year — though since we’re nearly half-way through it, Carl and co. have a pretty small window. This is where the “exciting psychic worlds” come into play, right?

[Thanks, Trevor]

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Oh, how the times have changed. Merely months ago we caught Frank Simonis, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association, firing off all sorts of vitriol at the red camp, and now that the wheels are falling off of the HD DVD wagon, we’re seeing quite the change of heart. According to a recent interview with Tech Radar, Mr. Simonis was quoted as saying that Toshiba and Microsoft, along with any other company, is “more than welcome to join the BDA.” He continued by stating that if “Toshiba decides to drop HD DVD, it would extend the hand of friendship to them.” Yeah, it’s kind of cute to see such lovey-dovey phrases being thrown around, but we’ve all ideas none of these heartfelt feelings are easing the sting felt by Toshiba right about now.

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

In an unsurprising turn of events, AMD honcho Hector Ruiz has taken advantage of a recent interview to verbally smack up competitor (and market kingpin) Intel. In the midst of a sit-down, the chipmaker’s CEO claimed that rival Intel was playing a game of catch up to AMD’s innovation, stating, “If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel.” Ruiz went on to blast the Santa Clara-based company, saying that, “Intel continues… to abuse their monopoly and that’s why around the world governments and regulatory agencies continue to go after them.” Hey — at least he doesn’t seem to be feeling bitter about the whole thing.

[Via The INQUIRER]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Portable Video

J Allard, the mysterious, bedreadlocked, Lex Luthor-ish cat behind the Xbox, Zune and Zune 2 (amongst others) sat down for a Q and A with the New York Times and revealed some deep feelings — as well as future plans. Mainly, Mr. Allard talks about the hardships of dealing with record labels, the failure of the first Zune to penetrate the market, his hopes for the current generation of Redmond-anointed media players to kill, kill, kill, and the fact that a “Zune Phone” isn’t anywhere close right now (though doesn’t seem to be off the table). On the flip side, he hints at a future of merged Microsoft services, where you’ll be able to order up music, games, and videos on demand — all in one, centralized package. Says J, “Today we have Xbox live for $50 a year. We have Zune Pass at $15 a month. We don’t have a rationalized premium version yet. Fast forward a little bit, and you can image a menu like DirecTV. There is basic, there is enhanced, there is movie pack and NFL Sunday ticket.” Of course, right now it’s just a crazy tripped-out dream floating around the mind of J Allard… let’s hope it floats onto our screens soon.

Read - J Allard: Microsoft’s Plan to Be King of All Media
Read - J Allard: The Failures of the Zune and the Record Labels
Read - J Allard: Dancing Around the Cellphone Question

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Kiss front man Gene Simmons, makeup-wearing progenitor of high-brow fare such as Rock And Roll All Nite, Plaster Caster, and Love Gun, as well as star of the intellectual gem Gene Simmons Family Jewels has a message for file sharing aficionados out there: you deserve to be sued. Or, as Gene subtly puts it to Billboard while discussing college student’s downloading habits, “Every freshly-scrubbed little kid’s face should have been sued off the face of the earth.” When asked about Radiohead and Trent Reznor’s recent forays into new online distribution methods, our man Simmons retorts, “I open a store and say ‘Come on in and pay whatever you want.’ Are you on f*cking crack? Do you really believe that’s a business model that works?” We don’t know Gene, but we can’t wait to download your new record.

[Via Digg]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Robots

Boston Globe reporter Scott Kirsner got a chance to go behind the scenes with DARPA’s much publicized robotic arm, designed by a team led by Dean Kamen. The video includes an interview with Dean, along with some footage of the arm itself, including a symbolic handshake between the reporter and humanity’s future destroyer (or if not, the ancestor of humanity’s future destroyer.) Anyway, the video offers some interesting insight into the development of what could eventually be a truly bionic arm: check it out after the break.

Continue reading DARPA’s robotic arm demoed

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!