Mobile Stew - consoles & handhelds

Gizmondo CEO Arrested On Suspicion Of Grand Theft

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:05:00 -0700

I was watching a lucky bugger on TV who had won the lottery and was choosing his first supercar, when I spotted this story in The Times. Stefan Eriksson CEO of the ill-fated Gizmondo, was arrested at his Bel-Air home in California on
Saturday night after detectives served a search warrant, the Sheriff’s
Department said.

It's not clear if Stefan is being held for crashing his Ferrari Enzo at an
estimated 162mph (261kmh) last month when it hit a pole along the
Pacific Coast Highway and all but disintegrated, or for driving his Mercedes SLR which might have been stolen or at least not imported correctly.

Gizmondo Exec Loses Another Car

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 02:43:00 -0700

The poor old Gizmondo didn't stand a chance with idiots like this running the company. After writing off his Ferrari Enzo last month, Stefan Eriksson of Gizmondo has now lost his Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, which is one of my favourite cars as I work very near to the new McLaren super-factory so I see them testing quite a lot.

Apparently the police stopped the exec in his car, pictured above, as they thought his European plates looked suspicious. It turned out that not only did his wife not have a driver's licence, the car wasn't even registered in the US.

Then, to round it all off after contacting Scotland Yard, the LAPD learned that the car might have been stolen, as a financial institution claimed that it owned the car!...

Apple Vs Apple Legal Battle

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 04:46:00 -0700

I've never really understood how an Apple could be a trademark, but Apple Computer Inc and Apple Corps Ltd are due to face off in the
courtroom in a case involving Apple's iTunes music store, which
violates an agreement intended to keep the U.S.-based computer company
out of the music business.

Apple Corps is owned by the former Beatles and their heirs,
and still owns the licensing rights to Beatles’ products. It is claiming
that the introduction of iTunes broke a $26 million settlement under
which Apple Computer agreed to steer clear of the music business, for
which the Beatles’ company retains the famous trademark. It is the

Purchased Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:29:00 -0700

I'm getting a bit bored of Project Gotham 3, so I've just picked up a copy of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for the Xbox 360. Tried holding out for as long as possible, but it seemed silly to only have one game for my Xbox 360 that I play. Haven't played it yet but I'll be online before and after the Spurs game if anyone wants to show me the ropes. Don't forget I've got a new gamertag - 'Dreem Team'

iPods Added To The Basket Of Goods Used To Track Inflation

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 02:58:00 -0700

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) in the UK are adding iPods to the basket of goods used to track inflation and price changes in the UK, replacing items such as slippers, personal CD players and chocolate biscuits.

As well as MP3 players, music downloads are also being added into the mix, to present a more meaningful reflection of current consumer spending patterns. The economic sampling tracks a number of more or less typical goods and as retail prices rise, or fall, the changes are recorded.

Other new inclusions in the annual review are flat-panel televisions and digital camcorders, in a move to improve the coverage of technological goods.

In total, 30 new items were added for monitoring.

Skype and 3 launch 3G data card

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 00:49:00 -0700

Skype and 3 launched 3G data card, which enables subscribers to make cheaper VoIP calls.

Currently the card is priced at £ 39.99 and is bundled with the special
starter pack provided by skype which includes Skype software, a Skype
headset and a Skype starter voucher.

Users hoping to get the card at the cheapest price - £ 39.99 will have to opt
for the Web and Office 512 package priced at £45 per month. However users will
get half a Gb of data bundled in each month.

READ MORE HERE

Sony Ericsson signs a deal to bundle Google's Blogger.com

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 01:24:01 -0700

This week, Sony Ericsson has signed a deal with Google, which enablesSony Ericsson to integrate Google's Blogger.com and Google Web Searchfeatures on all of its future mobile phones.

This meansblogger.com account holder with the new Sony Ericsson phone can writeand post content to his blog on the move using the bundles software. Soyou can post content to your blog even on a vacation, travel or awayfrom a computer. This is the first any mobile handsent manfacturerporviding this kind of features related to blogging. This shows howpopular is blogging in the present internet era and it looks likesurely this is going to be a hit feature.

READ MORE HERE

One For The Mac Lovers: iTunes and iPhoto Support on the Xbox 360

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 05:44:27 -0700

My boss installed this last night and said that he didn't have any problems. Connect360 automatically indexes your iTunes and iPhoto libraries and shares them to your Xbox 360. You can then use the Xbox 360 Dashboard to browse and play your media, organized in the exact same way that it is on your Mac.

I hope somebody makes a PC version. At the moment I have to import my iTunes playlists into Windows Media Player weekly, which is a bit annoying.

More: Connect360

Playstation 3: Delayed By 6-12 Months?

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 08:08:36 -0700

Seems like Sony are paying for giving the Playstation 3 such a highspec, which analysts believe will delay the luanch by up to 12 monthsand has pushed the production costs to over$800.

Microsoft must be rubbing theirhands. Not only has the Xbox 360 gone down better than theycould have hoped, but the 2nd generation of games that will begin totap into the Xbox 360's capabilities will soon be appearing, which mayconvince die-hard Playstation followers to spend the cash they've beensitting on to by an Xbox 360.

More: OmMalik on Broadband, CNET

Easy Way To Stream DivX/XviD To Xbox 360

Sat, 18 Feb 2006 07:58:41 -0700

Finally it's here. Runtime, one of the original founders of the great XBMC program for the original Xbox has put together a program called Transode 360 that allows you to stream DivX and XviD files on the fly to your Xbox 360 via Windows Media Center.

I managed to get the program working within 10 minutes, following the advice posted in the Xbox Scene Forums. The code still needs some work, with some codecs working better than others, but at least it means I don't have to waste time converting my existing collection to MPEG2 or WMV to be able to watch.

If you haven't got a decent PC you might have problems using it - even my beast of a machine takes around 20-30 seconds to start playing, ...

Browse The Internet With An Xbox360

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 08:33:22 -0700

I went to a Microsoft presentation yesterday which showcased the potential applications of their software. It wasn't very interesting (although I did get some free software worth around �400 which was nice!), although it did make me realise that I wasn't getting the most out of my XP Media Center Edition PC combined with my Xbox 360.

One enhancement I added on last night lets my Xbox 360 to browse the web. This tweak doesn't install a fully-fledged browser on the Xbox 360 but it does let you bookmark sites and follow links.

To install the tweak do the following (Windows MCE required):

Xbox Live Not Suitable For Kids?

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 08:17:18 -0700

Whenever I go onto Xbox Live I'm constantly amazed by the amount of bad language and cussing that goes on, and also concerned by the amount of racial and sexual abuse.

It makes me wonder sometimes if I had kids would I let them play online. The media tend to focus quite heavily on chat rooms and IM use, but if they heard the abuse going on in online games I think they would be stunned.

Josh Smith tried to do some analysis and he found that people cussed atotal of 641 times (that he heard) in the 33.9 hours that he wastracking it. Seems a bit low to me as during one of my races an American guy and a Scottish guy must have swore more times ...

Xbox 360 Shortage Over?

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 15:16:46 -0700

Peter Moore, Head of the Xbox division stated today that:

�Within the next four to six weeks, anybody will be able to walk into a store and buy an Xbox 360.�

I was amazed to see first-hand today just how bad the shortage is. I wanted to buy a Play and Charge kit today and I tried 3 different shops and not one of them even had any accessories left, much less an Xbox.

I guess I've got 4-6 weeks left to get my PGR3 rating up, before the leagues get swamped with even more players!

Gizmondo Goes Into Liquidation

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 07:08:22 -0700

Well, it looks like it is the end of the road for the Gizmondo as its parent company Tiger Telematics has gone into liquidation. Tiger Telematics has also announced that it expects theliquidators to cease all operations and terminate all employees.

Its a shame but I really think everyone but Tiger Telematics knew things were going to go pear-shaped as the ill-fated Gizmondo was never going to be able to compete with the DS or PSP.

'Fastest' DVD To iPod Converter

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 14:31:29 -0700

The latest version of Cucusoft's DVD to iPod Converterhas just been released, which claims to be the fastest converter...

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