Geek In Me

via ubergizmo.com

I don’t know what the boffins at Microsoft are smoking, but they have apparently filed for and received a patent that is tantamount to Page Up/Page Down functionality. According to the patent’s own words, it covers a “method and system for navigating paginated content in page-based increments,” with an example of pressing either Page Up or Page Down keys to navigate between the next or previous page. Interesting bit of news, but no way will it be revolutionary. What do you think Microsoft has up their sleeves with this patent?





via xbox360fanboy.com

Gather round children and scoot in close, because it’s time for another edition of Xbox 360 price cut rumor talk where we inform you about the latest, craziest and somewhat possible 360 price cuts that may or may not happen. And today, friends, we aren’t about to let you down.

According to ars technica’s Microsoft insider, all Xbox 360 hardware across all console SKUs will be seeing some major price cuts even including the recently introduced 60GB model. Their insider informs us that sometime this September, the Xbox 360 Arcade (no HDD) will drop from $279 all the way down to $199, the new Xbox 360 Pro (60GB HDD) will go from $349 down to $299 and the Xbox 360 Elite (120GB HDD) will fall from $449 down to a more reasonable $399. If true, high fives all around. If false, we become depressed.

by Thomas Ricker via engadget.com

It’s not the Stateside discount we’ve been waiting for, but at least Australia and New Zealand are looking at discounted Xbox 360 pricing across the board. No press release, just an update to the Aussie Xbox site indicating a new starting price of AU$349 Australian dollars for the Xbox 360 Arcade — the same console which sold for AU$399 just yesterday. That makes it AU$50 cheaper than the Wii locally. Gamespot spoke to local Xbox exec, Jeremy Hilton, who confirmed that the Xbox 360 Pro bundle has been slashed to AU$499 (was AU$579) and the Elite is now AU$649 (down from AU$729).

by Thomas Ricker via engadget.com

Remember that rumor of a spherical Microsoft Surface bouncing around the labs of Redmond? At the time, we didn’t get it. Now, imagine if you would the combination of a multi-touch sphere with these 360-degree games from SusiGames. Oh sure, the games have been kicking around art shows and design exhibitions for several months now, and rely upon a modified Wiimote and decidedly non-touch-sensitive SusiSphere for interactivity. Nevertheless, the union of the two concepts sure is tantalizing.