IBLOG SPACE

Outspoken Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has been throwing gaming cats among console pigeons again, describing the Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft games systems as “walled gardens” and promising to “very aggressively” support HP, Dell or any other PC manufacturer who chose to push a plug-and-play computer that hooked up directly to the TV. Such a PC would allow the game developer increased access to the revenue stream; Kotick told the Financial Times [subscription required] that he believed “60 per cent of [Microsoft’s] subscribers are principally on Live because of Call of Duty.” However, Activision “don’t really participate financially in that income stream” Kotick explained, suggesting that the studio “would really like to be able to provide much more value to those millions of players playing on Live, but it’s not our network.” The flip-side, of course, would be a PC-based system which would allow Activision to set their own pricing for various levels of service, rather than being at

Pioneer has a gob of equipment and gear for pro and amateur DJs that it offers. This includes gear like the DJM-2000 pro DJ mixer that launched back in March. Pioneer has offered up another new piece of DJ equipment called the CDJ-850 digital media player . This device has the same club layout as the professional level media players like the CDJ-2000 and CDJ-900. The 850 has a 206mm jog dial with rotary selector and browse buttons. The device supports a range of media formats like MP3, AAC, WAV, and AIFF form CD-r/RW discs or USB drives. The 850 ships with rekordbox software that can analyze data like Wave, Beat Grid, BPM, and ID3 tags. The user can create cues and loop settings as well as create and edit playlists. The CDJ-850 will ship in August for $999.

NVIDIA’s new line of Fermi-based video cards certainly brought more muscle to computing and gaming when it debuted a while back. The new GPUs are very powerful and have allowed new levels of performance in enthusiast and gamer machines. The Fermi GPU s also offer better performance for other tasks that are able to run on the GPU. ElecomSoft has announced that it is using Fermi-based video cards to massively improve the performance of its password recovery software. Using a Fermi-based Tesla GPGPU ElecomSoft claims to have realized a 20 times improvement in the speed it recovers passwords at. ElecomSoft products that support the Fermi GPGPU include ElecomSoft Distributed Password Recovery, ElecomSoft Wireless Security Auditor, and ElecomSoft iPhone Password Breaker.

I’m not a golfer; I stick with Put-put or Wii Golf. The real thing looks difficult to me. If you are an avid golfer, you will recognize the name TaylorMade . The golf company has announced that it is using a slick touchscreen device in more than 40 retail locations to help shoppers understand the TaylorMade line of golf gear. The touchscreen devices are being installed in a number of Golf Galaxy and Golfsmith stores around the country. The devices have 5-inch touchscreens and offer details about the construction and features on golf clubs and the new 5-layer golf ball from TaylorMade. The touchscreen also lets the shopper watch full screen video, take tours of products, and get information on players using the TaylorMade equipment. This is a very cool device.

Patriot has all sorts of gear that uses flash memory for storing data like SSDs. The company has announced its LX series SDXC memory card is now available for purchase. The card is a UHS-I storage device with 64GB of storage space. Patriot claims that 64GB of storage space is enough for 21,000 6MP photos or ten hours of HD video. This would be a great storage card for those with HD camcorders that can record directly to SDXC cards. The UHS-I certification means that the card provides at least 10MB/s sustained write speeds. The card is surprisingly cheap considering the amount of storage space it offers at $349.99.

Onkyo is a big name in the home theater market and the company has announced a couple new 3D-ready home theaters in a box systems. The two new systems are the HT-S6300 and the HT-S7300 both packing HDMI 1.4a inputs. Other features of the systems include 1080p video upscaling, lossless Dolby and DTS HD sound, Dolby height processing, and Audyssey automatic room EQ tech. Both of the systems include all the speakers, sub, and the receiver needed for a complete home theater system. Both also feature a separate iPhone/iPod dock. The big difference between the two systems is that the S7300 has a pair of 41-inch tall floor standing speakers with dual vertically arrayed woofers. The S6300 system uses six speakers each a foot tall that are made to sit on a bookshelf. Both of the systems use 290W subwoofers. The S6300 sells for $749 and the S7300 is $899.

If you’ve held off from buying a netbook because there always seems to be a new model – and a price cut – just around the corner, now might be the time to buy. Acer and ASUS are reportedly freezing netbook releases until around mid-August, according to DigiTimes‘ market sources, to clear their inventory in the face of the incoming Atom N550 processor . However, Intel’s pricing for the new chip – and their uncertain plans for the Celeron processor range – are prompting uncertainty. Intel are rumored to be phasing out Celeron chips altogether, which if true would leave the Atom range more room to spread out and make the more expensive N550 a more tempting prospect. The chip apparently costs $11-22 more than the N455/N475, creating uncertainty among ultra-thin and ultraportable manufacturers. Acer and ASUS are said to be watching market demand before jumping in.

Sony has outed its latest Cybershot digital cameras, the 12.2-megapixel 3D-capable DSC-WX5 and DSC-TX9, and the 14.1-megapixel DSC-T99. Both the WX5 and the TX9 support Full HD 1080i video recording, along with 2D/3D sweep panorama like the NEX-5, with the TX9 also throwing in an underwater-panorama mode when paired with a marine housing. The WX5 has a 5x optical zoom while the TX9 has a 4x optical zoom; there’s also a new “Background Defocus” mode which automatically shoots two images and then combines them to keep the foreground subject crisp and the background suitably blurry. A “New Soft Skin” mode, meanwhile, does a little Photoshop-style editing in-camera, automatically getting rid of lines and wrinkles. The WX5 has a 2.8-inch preview display while the TX9 scales that up to 3.5-inches. As for the DSX-T99, that has a 4x optical zoom, sweep panorama (with underwater mode, but no 3D support) and 720p HD video recording, together with a 3-inch preview display. All three models w

It seems like the last few weeks have been all about eReaders. Even with some other high profile launches, it felt like gravity kept pulling us back to talk about what Barnes and Noble was doing, or what Amazon was changing around. And, while price drops galore was some great news for people out there still waiting to get their hands on their first eReader, Amazon’s other surprise, the announcement of a cheaper, darker version of their Kindle DX didn’t miss out on its own share of the limelight. And now it’s about to get better for everyone who bought their very own. We’re getting word that folks are starting to get confirmations that their orders are shipping out. Which means they’ll be able to get their hands on that Pearl display any day now. What’s better for those who were waiting to buy the new eReader, it looks like Amazon’s still got some in stock tucked away in some of those warehouses, so if you didn’t pre-order and you’re still aching to get your hands on a graphite Kindle

We’re not shy about our aversion to cables, cords, and anything else that can tie us down and look remarkably messy at the same time. Sure, there’s been products out there that have made us wonder if there’s any hope for our surge protectors, but then there’s gadgets like IDAPT i4 that make us realize why, all over again, we’d much prefer to have one cable, if we had to have any cables at all. The i4 is designed to specifically charge up to four different mobile electronic devices, so right from the start it cuts down on the amount of cords we need to have lying around. As you can see from the image, you simply replace a tip and put it into the standing base. From there, you’ll be able to put your device right onto the charging port, and just let the i4 take care of the rest. The i4 itself has three charging ports on the dock, and then an extra USB charging port which should take care of any other devices that aren’t already supported by IDAPT with their tips. So, which devices are su

When it comes to video games in the hand, having a WiFi connection isn’t necessarily a newfangled feature. In fact, some handheld consoles out there require a WiFi connection to actually be viable. And while the Nintendo 3DS has WiFi, yes, and Nintendo wants the console to have an “always-connected” presence to those WiFi networks, what about when you’re not near a hotspot of any sorts? If a new report from The Wall Street Journal says what it’s clearly saying, then it looks ilke NTT DoCoMo over in Japan is hard at work with various unnamed folks to bring 3G connectivity to handheld gaming consoles. As NTT DoCoMo’s president, Ryuji Yamada puts it, “We are discussing this with various plalyers.” And, as we just mentioned, the WSJ has put some of the puzzle pieces together as well, and calls out Nintendo as being one of the major players probably within talks with the wireless carrier. Considering the 3DS is still being worked on, with a launch date several months out, adding 3G to th

Whether or not you own a Nintendo Wii , you’ve probably seen the commercials. Or know someone who owns one, and have experienced the gameplay for yourself. With that in mind, we all know that Nintendo intended for people to get off the couch and actually interact with their games on a whole “new” level. Sure, there’s some commercials out there that show plenty of folks sitting on their couch, tilting their Wii remotes all over the place, but with accessories like Wii Fit and what not, we all know where Nintendo was going with this. (And subsequently, yes, Sony’s Move is positioned in much the same way.) But, what about Microsoft’s Kinect? From what we’ve seen of Kinect, Microsoft’s upcoming motion-based gaming peripheral, there’s a lot going on. Kicking, leaning, slapping the air, and whatever else game developers can think of to include in their titles. But, what about sitting on the couch? We know that that’s not Microsoft’s main goal, but obviously you’re not going to want to stand

ASUS has a thing for bamboo-fused electronics. They’ve been doing this kind of thing for a few years now, datingall the way back to 2007, before some other models became available for pre-order courtesy of Amazon. And now, two new notebooks are currently available thanks to Best Buy. The two new models, the ASUS U43JC and U43F each boast a 14-inch display, and have the same aesthetically pleasing approach to adding bamboo to their framework as the other models in the past have. The U43JC will cost you $999.99, and it’s powered by Intel’s Core i5 processor at 2.26GHz. There’s 4GB of RAM tucked away inside as well. As for the hard drive, that hard-earned money will get you a whopping 640GB of storage. As for graphics, you’ll be able to take advantage of NVIDIA’s GeForce 310M graphics chipset. Other features include the standard ports, and included facial recognition software (so there’s obviously a webcam, too). Best of all though, is the fact that Optimus graphics switching is also inc

Clearwire’s new CLEAR 4G and 3G/4G mobile hotspots have gone up for sale, having made their preorder debut last month. The CLEAR Spot 4G and Spot 4G+ both share their WiMAX connection with various WiFi clients – up to eight with the Spot 4G, and up to five with the Spot 4G+ – and are in CLEAR stores today. The Spot 4G only has a WiMAX modem, while the Spot 4G+ can also use Sprint’s 3G network when you’re outside of CLEAR coverage. The Spot 4G is priced at $99.99 with plans from $40 per month, while the Spot 4G+ is priced at $224.99 with plans from $50 per month; both can also be leased.

Having been spotted in various leaks before now, it comes as little surprise to see Motorola officially announce their latest Android smartphone, the Motorola CHARM . Due to arrive on T-Mobile USA this summer, the CHARM has a 2.8-inch touchscreen with a full QWERTY keyboard underneath; it runs Android 2.1 with the latest iteration of Motorola’s MOTOBLUR social networking aggregation. Other hardware includes a fixed-focus 3-megapixel camera paired with Kodak image processing technology and – like we saw on the Motorola BACKFLIP – a trackpad on the back of the phone which can be used to navigate on-screen without blocking the display with your chubby fingers. As on the DROID X, the CHARM’s processor can be underclocked into battery-extending mode to lengthen runtimes. There’s also a new feature whereby you can access the CHARM’s content via a USB or WiFi connection from a desktop browser. Of course you also get WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a 3.5mm headphone socket and multitouch; Mo

Cesc Fabregas admits he is 'desperate' to be involved in the FIFA World Cup final™, but understands if he is left out. Arsenal captain Fabregas has yet to start a match in South Africa, with the likes of Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets keeping the midfielder out of the team. Fabregas concedes it 'hurts' not to be in Vicente del Bosque's starting line-up ahead of Spain's bid to add the world crown to the European Championship success of two years ago.

With the top prize out of their grasp, will the prestige of being top scorer affect both sides in their World Cup™ third-place clash? The match has had a reputation for being an almost meaningless consolation but Germany's Thomas Muller and Miroslav Klose, and Uruguay's Diego Forlan, are all on four goals - just one behind Spain's David Villa and Holland's Wesley Sneijder. Klose, who is a doubt with a back injury, also needs just one goal in Port Elizabeth tomorrow to equal Ronaldo's record of 15 goals at World Cup finals.

South Africa's World Cup chief has claimed FIFA need to look at the issue of player fatigue from too many games. Whilst the five-week long event itself has generally been regarded as a success, there has been widespread disappointment at the failure of football's biggest names to make any kind of impact. Lionel Messi, Kaka and Wayne Rooney did not manage a goal between them, Cristiano Ronaldo scored just once - in the drubbing of North Korea - and Fernando Torres heads into the final with his score sheet blank as well.

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson is keen on bringing Peter Crouch back to Anfield, according to The Inderpendent. The former Fulham manager has been a long-time admirer of the lanky striker and had plans to bring him to Craven Cottage before being beaten to his signature by Tottenham Hotspur. But the 62-year-old could finally fulfill his wish now that he is in charge of Liverpool.

Manchester City have tabled a bid of £15 million for Germany World Cup star Lukas Podolski, according to Morgenpost. The 25-year-old has continued to confound his critics by excelling in the German national shirt - a stark contrast to his domestic performances in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich and Cologne. The striker has been instrumental in Germany's impressive run in the World Cup, which was ended prematurely by Spain, who beat them 1-0 in the semi-finals.

Miroslav Klose is hoping to shake off a back injury ahead of Germany's match with Uruguay in what will be his last chance to write his names in the history books of the World Cup. The Bayern Munich striker is just one goal shy of the all-time World Cup finals scoring record of 15 held by Brazil's Ronaldo. Klose's two goals against Argentina in the quarter-finals put him level with Gerd Muller, the legendary German striker of the 1970s, and in sight of Ronaldo's mark. The 32-year-old is hoping to shake off a back injury before the third-place play-off match in Port Elizabeth but insists the all-time scoring record is not uppermost in his mind.

Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher is looking to use last season's disappointment as motivation this term. The Red Devils failed to pick up any silverware during the last campaign following their Premier League and Champions League woe. Sir Alex Ferguson's side missed out on their fourth consecutive title in the top flight by a single point to Chelsea, and were dumped out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals.

Tottenham target Diego Forlan has declined the opportunity to rule out a move away from Atletico Madrid this summer. The Uruguay striker is chasing the Golden Boot at this summer's World Cup, having already scored four goals in his country's passage to Saturday's third-place play-off against Germany. Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has been forthright in his admiration of Forlan, but the former Manchester United player has previously ruled out a return to the Premier League. The striker flopped at Old Trafford, however, he has shown his true ability with more than 100 goals in Spain for Villarreal and Atletico to alert a number of clubs around Europe.

Ghana midfielder Anthony Annan has been linked with moves to Chelsea and Manchester United, as well as French outfit Lyon. The 23-year-old Rosenborg midfielder has impressed many with his energetic performances for the Black Stars during this summer's World Cup, alerting a number of big clubs to his situation. Annan has been dubbed 'the next Claude Makelele' by many, as his ability in defensive midfield is akin to the former France international.

FIFA insisted that there has been no indication of any match-fixing situations at the World Cup following reports over Nigeria. The world governing body issued a statement after BBC Two's Newsnight programme reported that a UEFA investigator had warned FIFA before the tournament that the Nigeria team could be vulnerable to match-fixing. FIFA have responded, saying no information provided by any informant relating to potential match-fixing at the tournament has had any substance.

Manchester United captain Gary Neville has been ruled out of the club's summer tour because of injury. The 35-year-old defender will remain at Carrington for treatment on a calf problem when the squad leave for Chicago, in the hope he will be fit for the start of the season. Neville recovered strongly last season after injuries had curtailed his involvement in previous seasons and was handed a one-year extension to his contract. United say he suffered a minor setback in training with a small tear to his calf muscle.

With the lady luck arriving in his life, India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's performance would improve, former wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani hoped. Kirmani, a member of India's 1983 World Cup winning team, said, "Even the lady in my life was very lucky for me. I hit my first century after getting married. " Dhoni  has always been lucky for the Team India and now he will be performing even better than during his bachelorhood days. A lady always brings luck with her," Kirmani said on the sidelines of a promotional event.

Mark Webber topped the timesheets in the second practice session for the British Grand Prix, using his teammate's chassis. Following his spectacular accident in the European Grand Prix, Webber is now using a chassis formerly used by Vettel, who was forced to settle for the third quickest time of the two 90-minute sessions at a scorching, new-look Silverstone as temperatures hit 27 degrees centigrade. Although Vettel was fastest in the morning, Webber led the way in the afternoon with a time of one minute 31.234secs as he comfortably beat Ferrari's Fernando Alonso into second by 0.4secs. That was despite the Australian being consigned to the garage for the final 20 minutes of the session with an electrical problem.

A frustrated Jenson Button described his McLaren as "undriveable" after qualifying a miserable 14th for Sunday's British Grand Prix Button, who has yet to finish on the podium in 10 attempts at his home race around Silverstone, will almost certainly see that run extended to 11 tomorrow. The reigning world champion now faces a fight just to make it into the points in a car he has not felt at home in all weekend.

Red Bull Racing were in a league of their own as Sebastian Vettel claimed a stunning pole position for the British Grand Prix. Red Bull Racing were in a league of their own as Sebastian Vettel claimed a stunning pole position at the British Grand Prix. Vettel, who started on pole at Silverstone last year on his way to a dominant win, got the better of team-mate Mark Webber in a heated battle for supremacy, the German posting a quickest time of one minute 29.615 seconds.

Priyadarshan's immediate next release is the comic caper Khatta Meetha starring Akshay Kumar. However post that film; Priyan would be back with the hard hitting Aakrosh starring Ajay Devgn, Bipasha Basu and Akshaye Khanna in lead roles. Bollywood Hungama brings you a still featuring Ajay and Bips from this eagerly awaited film. Aakrosh is an action thriller about love across caste barriers and honour killing. Even though the film is set in Bihar, a lot of the film's portions have been shot down South in Kerala. The cast and crew also filmed some important scenes in Diu recently. Ajay Devgn and Akshaye Khanna had created magic earlier when they starred together in Deewangee . It will be interesting to see if they can once again rock the Box Office with Aakrosh which is likely to release later this year.

Amitabh Bachchan speaks to Subhash K Jha on his return to Kaun Banega Crorepati You are back on Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) though on a different channel this time. What made you agree to host the show a third time? Sony TV now has the rights for KBC and they approached me. They shared with me their research and the changes that they wished to incorporate in the show and I agreed. Earlier you also hosted Bigg Boss. Doesn't television eat into the precious time that you have for movies? No it does not. The schedules get planned accordingly and film and TV get different slots and it all works out. I was also not shooting any film during the time of Bigg Boss and it's very likely that for KBC also the film shoot shall begin after the season is over. But even if it were not to, adjustments in dates would be made and incorporated. KBC changed the relationship between cinema and television forever. No other game show since then has had the same impact. Do you in some

Relief. This is what one can sense in the voice of Boney Kapoor who is finally ready to unveil his labour of love - Milenge Milenge . The world is aware about half-a-decade wait that the film had to go through from it's inception to release. However, if one would have thought that the makers here would be anxious about what to expect at the box office, then that is not quite the case. Instead, Boney Kapoor as well as director Satish Kaushik are taking it light and pretty much leaving it to destiny to take this Shahid Kapoor - Kareena Kapoor movie through. "This film is akin to an overgrown daughter who is finally getting married. Ek baap ke dil ko isse zyaada khushi kya mil sakti hai", jokes Boney Kapoor who is now keeping his fingers crossed to see how Milenge Milenge eventually fares amongst the audience. He adds on a serious note, "As a maker I have done all to ensure that it gets a proper release for itself. There were no corners cut. Every fi

She is one girl whom every guy would want to take home to his mom and bindaas say 'Maa... yeh apki bahu hai". We are indeed talking about the one and only Genelia D'Souza, the Aditi from Jaane Tu ......, who looks like never before in the latest edition of Elle. One has to give it to the fotog for shooting her so differently! Well, Genelia does open up in this interview like she always has and shows her 'good' side. She goes on record to say that, "For us, the film industry was this big bad world- a place where people who didn't study landed up". Let's give it to this PYT for 'trying-to-be-diplomatic' when it comes to her love life. Even though she denies any confirmation about information on her love life, she does say that she is a 'fantastic girlfriend' who devotes herself to her relationship. All in all, Genelia is the way to go... to be 'Elle-gant' this season!

The football fever is on in full swing with the Grand finale of the World Cup 2010 scheduled to take place this Sunday. A lot of our Bollywood celebs are already in South Africa or on their way to be part of this sporting extravaganza. Spotted at yesterday's semi-final match between Spain and Germany was none other than superstar Shah Rukh Khan along with his kids Aryan and Suhana. SRK was joined by former IPL chairman Lalit Modi who seemed to be enjoying himself. Lalit Modi tweeted, "Beautiful eve in Durban. Nil at half time" While SRK and his son were rooting for Germany, Lalit Modi was supporting Spain. In the end it was Spain who emerged victorious much to King Khan's disappointment. SRK tweeted, "Germany my team lost...feel bad taking my lil ones to matches where our team loses...but one day insha allah we will win...trust me kids." Now that his favourite team is out, it will be interesting to see which team SRK cheers on in the big f

It's strange but the fact that I called up Imran Khan to find out more on the on-going success of his rom-com IHLS put me in a spooky moment. The moment: the actor was shooting for his latest Coke advert with Dibakar Banerjee and you see his latest film buzzing with a lot of fizz. And then you recall your school days when Aamir Khan did the same thing (created a frenzied fizz) after the release of his blockbuster QSQT , then came some flops, and then Dil did the trick. Back to the future, Imran has become the blue eyed boy of Bollywood. And we won't be surprised to see girls camping outside his Pali Hill residence soon, if that's how we see his love story work. He was a pin up then, and is a pin up now. It's like this, Imran Khan is waxed in Madame Tussauds, and just like the British women created history by recording maximum number of kisses on the wax statue of Pattinson, our Indian female fans will surely achieve a new feat in the dome outside Bak