Another Format War Brewing?

Just when you thought the format war was over and it was safe to purchase a Blu-ray player…this. News outlets in Japan are reporting the new CBHD format is doing surprisingly well, outselling Blu-ray in China.

For those of you haven’t heard, the China Blue High Definition format appeared earlier this year in China. While it’s very similar to HD DVD it has a different video compression and better copy protection to foil pirates, which as you know is a huge issue over there.

Read More »

NYC Couple Nabbed for Swiping Red Light Cameras

Two New Yorkers are in hot water after being busted for allegedly selling red light cameras.

Police say Anthony Cintorrino 45, and 29-year-old Tara LaBurt, drove around New York City with a Cherry Picker truck, opened up red light camera boxes and then swiped the Nikon D2X’s inside only to turn around and sell them for $300 a piece to a local camera store.

Apparently it was an inside job. Authorities say Cintorrino was a contractor who installed and maintained a number of the cameras. He had knowledge of where the camera were and how they could be taken down quickly and quietly.

The cameras were recovered and put back into place within 48 hours.

[Via NewYorkPost]

Amazon CEO Apologizes For Irony

Some people were wondering how concerned they should be after illegally downloaded copies of 1984 and Animal Farm mysteriously disappeared from their Kindle e-readers. Now, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is prostrating himself by saying “Our ‘solution’ to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles,”

Some privacy concerns were raised when the unauthorized e-books were remotely wiped away last week. Trying to stem the backlash, Bezos wrote “It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received,” he said. “We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.”

By now, you must know that somebody is always watching. And also: get your hand out of that cookie jar

[Via Breitbart]

Halo Gets It's Own Anime Miniseries

Microsoft announced today at the San Diego Comic-Con that work is progressing on their new anime set in the Halo universe. Halo Legends will ship to DVD and ‘digital platforms’ (goodbye Gamerpoints) early next year. The series will run seven episodes long.
While getting 5 different Japanese production houses working on the actual animation of the series, Microsoft is maintaining a firm grip on the creative control of the series as far as story and visual decisions go.

[Via Joystiq]

30th Anniversary Pac-Man Lighter

Even if you’re not a smoker you’re gonna want one of these. Take a look at this! Banpresto has just announced a 30th Anniversary edition Pac-Man Zippo.

Put your tongue back in your mouth. You’ll have to wait until November to get your hands on one!

[Via Akihabara]

Police Now Probing iPhone Suicide

The bizarre case of the Foxconn employee that allegedly committed suicide after “misplacing” a 4G iPhone prototype just got more interesting. Not only has Foxconn suspended a security official, the investigation has now been turned over to police.

Read More »

'The Ballad Of Gay Tony' Bitchslaps X360 Owners October 29th

Rockstar’s still rolling out the downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto 4, and the newest installment, The Ballad Of Gay Tony, sashays onto your Xbox 360 later this fall.

Not only will you be able to download the content straight to your machine for 20 bones, you also have the option of picking up Episodes Of Liberty City at your favorite retailer. The disc will include the newest content alongside Rockstar’s first episodic piece for GTA 4, The Lost And The Damned, for $39.99.

The cool thing is, if you’ve already played through GTA 4 on a friends machine (or on your PS3!), the developers have made it so you don’t need the original game to play the new content on your Xbox.

PS: Hit this link for a high-res version of the above wallpaper for your desktop or phone!

[Via Joystiq]

Dell Slashes Price of Adamo

Don’t get us wrong, we really liked Dell’s Adamo laptop (even if it is a Mac wannabe). The machined-aluminum chassis, the backlit keys, it’s rugged good looks. The only thing holding us back…the price. Well Dell has finally wisened up. The company has announced it is slashing the price of the Adamo by $500.

The base model will now run you $1499. Still expensive but a far cry from what it was yesterday. We’ll take two Dell!

Update: Price cut only available in the U.S. Thanks Greg!

OnStar To Enable Remote Engine Block For Stolen Autos

OnStar has just announced another anti-theft deterrent for it’s subscribers…Remote Engine Block. When a subscribers calls in to report their vehicle has been stolen, OnStar sends a GPS signal to remotely prevent the engine from starting.

OnStar is calling it an “industry first”, we call it outdated. It begs the question, why wasn’t this service offered before? It’s not rocket science. Seems like an obvious feature for an overpriced service. Then again…does anyone even use OnStar anymore?

[Via autoblog]

Luggage Charges Your Gadgets As It Rolls

ITP student Ohad Folman may have just struck gold with this prototype. It’s a suitcase that charges your gadgets as it rolls.

The luggage has a battery inverter with solar panel so it’s constantly generating power. When you want to charge something, just plug it into the socket hidden on the side flap! There’s even a battery indicator to show you how much power your luggage has created. 

Read More »