Crackdown 2 Expected in Early 2010

Aaron Greenberg, director of Product Management at Xbox, shelled out details about Crackdown 2 game at the Major Nelson Podcast. At the podcast with Larry Hryb, director of Programming at Xbox, Greenberg noted that the year 2010 will be bigger than 2009. Of course, in excitement, he talked about Crackdown 2 as well.

In the podcast, Greenberg said, "You got Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell [Conviction], Alan Wake, you got Crackdown 2, we know we've got things like Fable III and Halo: Reach coming later in the year. And that's just the exclusives! That doesn't include things like Final Fantasy XIII. There's no way we had a first half of the year like that this year."

So, do we have to point out anymore that Crackdown 2 will arrive sometime in the first half of 2010. However, the big game entire Microsoft is betting on is Halo: Reach.

Crackdown 2 is direct sequel to the first game and involves sandbox-style third person shooter game play. This open-world action adventure game is Xbox 360 exclusive and involves competitive multiplayer as well as Co-op game play experience in multiplayer mode.

Inspiron 11z

Product Features

Key Features :-

Camera.

Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam

Weight

Starting weight of 3.05lbs (1.385kg)6 (3 cell battery). Weights will vary depending on configurations and manufacturing variability.

Chipset

Intel GS45 + ISH9M SFF-enhanced

Operating System:

Genuine Windows 7 Home Basic 64-Bit / Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Dimension WDH mm

11.5" (292mm) / 8.43" (214mm) / 0.92" (23.5mm) front / 1.02" (25.8mm) back (with 3 cell battery)

Wireless

Dell 1397 WLAN 802.11a/b/g - Half mini-card

LCD display

11.6" 1366 x 768 HD TLF WLED

Power

3-cell 24WHr Li-Ion Battery

Audio and Speakers

Main Speakers (quantity): 2 x 1.0W , Microphone – Integrated single digital microphone bundled with camera

Optical Drive

External only

Ports

Integrated network connector 10/100 LAN (RJ45) / HDMI connector / 1 x Share USB Right Ports / Kensington lock / AC Power-in / 2X USB 3-in-1 Media Card Reader / Secure Digital (SD) Memory Card / SecureMulti-Media Card (SMMC) / Memory Stick (MS) / Audio j

Processor

Up to Intel Pentium Processor SU4100(1.3GHz/800MHz/2MB Cache)

Memory

4GB DDR2 800MHz, SODIMM

Hard Drive

Up to 500 GB 5400rpm 2.5" SATA Hard Disk Drive

Graphics

Intel GS45 Integrated Graphics

Affordable Nokia 5235 Arrives

Soon after the announcement of the Nokia 5230, it's time now to welcome another Music oriented phone from Nokia. Say hello to the just introduced Nokia 5235. Note that the 5230 was not an XpressMusic branded phone, neither is this one. However, it does come with the "Comes With Music" service loaded.

The 5235 is being marketed as a "Comes With Music" phone - which means the device will come preloaded with quite a few free audio tracks and will come with a 12 or 18 month subscription for Nokia's Comes with Music service - all for free. This service allows users to access Nokia's Music library and download tracks for free. The phone is similar to the 5230 and boasts of a decent spec sheet that should keep most users happy.

The phone features a 3.2-inch resistive touchscreen that displays the Symbian S6- V5 standard resolution of 360*640, 3G connectivity and full GPS support with Ovi Maps. Being a music oriented device, there is a very much needed 3.5mm jack provided as well. The camera is not a very impressive 2-megapixel unit. The phone supports memory expansion with microSD cards and can take upto 16GB of external memory. A 1320mAH battery should provide enough power to last 33 hours of continuous music playback.

The 5235 is expected to be out by the first quarter of 2010 and will retail at around 145 Euros (Rs. 10,000).

Freeware Five (Part 3)

Fences

Hate a cluttered desktop? Try out Fences by Stardock, the makers of the wonderful Windows Blinds desktop skinning app. What Fences does is, it lets you group icons into a box called fences, so you can have various icons grouped together for Work, Mail, movies, music, shortcuts, games, misc etc. When double-clicked on an empty area on the desktop, all the Fences with icons in them disappear, when double-clicked, they reappear again.

Fences is versatile enough to be easily resizable and moveable, as you see fit, and has centralized control. It lets you appreciate the wallpaper sans the clutter.

Check out the Youtube video on how it works

Apple Delays 27-inch iMacs

Apple has delayed the new 27-inch models from the recently announced iMac models with quad-core Intel chips citing display issues, reported Computerworld. Several instances of flickering screens, yellow-tint screens and cracked screens on shipment have been reported at the Apple forums.

Web designer Scott Pronych created a website about Apple iMac (Fall 2009) Issues to track the issues with the new 27-inch iMacs. This website also has a Flash based test for checking if the iMac screen is faulty. An unnamed Apple spokesperson told CNET that, "We apologize for any inconvenience or delay this may cause our customers." The spokesperson didn't comment on the reason for delay.

Apple Online Store lists the new 27-inch iMac models to ship within two weeks while the 21.5-inch models ship in 24 hours.

In several countries just like India, Apple's new iMac models were supposed to arrive in the first week of December but only appeared after the second week. A number of Apple Authorized Resellers first insist to take orders from customers and only then supply the 27-inch iMac models. Just like the pre-order model works. Few resellers reported that the iMacs were being delayed due to graphics card issues. At this moment, it's unsure when the shipment and availability of 27-inch iMacs will become normal.

iPhone OS 4.0 Spotted in Server Logs

Last week, few details about the fourth generation iPhone model indicated that the phone might be out later next year. To complement that, Apple is also working on next major iPhone operating system 4.0 version. Boy Genius Report guysfound entries of iPhone OS 4.0 and also iPhone OS 3.1.3 in their server logs. Apple had released iPhone OS 3.1.2 updateback in October.

As it's obvious, the iPhone OS 3.1.3 update will bring minor fixes to the bugs reported in the iPhone OS 3.1.2 version. This update can be expected anytime soon. On the other hand, the iPhone OS 4.0 may be shown off as sneak peak just like the iPhone OS 3.0 was shown off.

Earlier, we noted that the next generation iPhone is already under testing, the listing of iPhone OS 4.0 does excite us. However, we don't know when exactly would the iPhone OS 4.0 arrive as the interim updates between OS 3.0 and OS 4.0 versions are bound to come. As for the existing devices, we're yet to see iPhone OS 3.2 update and it may not come if Apple decides to jump directly to iPhone OS 4.0.

Do we have the wish list for iPhone OS 4.0 yet? Please share your views in comments section below.

Features that Make or Break a Laptop

There is no such thing as a perfect electronic device, but there's no denying that we've come a long way in making them easier to use. Speaking of laptops, over the years we've seen certain features in different models that come in very handy. And then there are those features that will not be missed if they are removed. So, call this as an open letter to all the laptop makers if you will, as this is a list of five features that I feel every laptop should have, and another five that are quite an irritant and need to be rectified.

1) LED meter on the battery

They are quite convenient to check the charged capacity of the battery without having to boot into your OS. On the MacbookPros, they are flushed into the side of the body, which is ideal. But some models from Dell and Samsung have the meter on the battery pack itself. Maybe a little inconvenient to flip the laptop over, but its way better than waiting for 30 seconds just to know how charged (or rather discharged) your battery is.

2) Multi-touch scrolling

Scrolling is an action that's performed by a lot by computer users - whether it's for reading through a web page or going through a file list etc. The Apple Macbooks really pushed the limit by having a large track-pad that could recognize an array of gestures for zooming in/out, switching between windows etc. But I'm talking about the simplest of them all; scrolling by simply swiping two fingers across it. In my opinion it is a better and more natural maneuver than the side-scrolling strip found on most laptops. We've already seen its implementation in Windows-based computers like the Eee PC. I feel it should be incorporated into every laptop out there.

LG's BL 40 Debuts in India at Last

LG's longish multimedia optimized handset, the BL40, has made its Indian debut finally - months after the device saw itsinternational launch.

The BL 40 Chocolate Edition boasts of a 4-inch wide LCD display that has a ridiculous 800x345 resolution - which endows it with a 21:9 aspect ratio! 16:9 is already passe, it seems! On the imaging, front the phone comes with a 5-megapixel camera with Schinder-Kreuznach lens and flash. Connectivity options are fulfilled by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and anFM transmitter.

The phone comes with a revamped S-Class UI featuring finger-friendly 3D graphics. The full HTML web browser supports wide screen format and does a good job of reproducing the web "as is"

The LG Chocolate BL40 is available in Indian now and can be yours for Rs. 30,000.

BlackBerry Phones Hit by Critical Flaw

Research in Motion (RIM) has found multiple vulnerabilities in its attachment service and has pushed updates for theBlackBerry Enterprise Server.

The flaw allows attackers to gain control of the device by sending malicious PDF files through email which when opened can lead to memory corruption and possibly lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) condition or arbitrary code execution on the computer that hosts the BlackBerry Attachment Service component of that BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

The patch issued by RIM can be downloaded from here.

Sony Blu-ray Player BDP-S360 [Review]

Expert Rating:

Good looks, quick browsing in pop menus, quick simple interface

No YouTube or online video, no USB support, no internal memory for BD Live Content, no DivX support, no eject button on remoteAfter a long wait we finally received a Blu-ray player from Sony; the BDP-S360. The Blu-ray players we have seen so far have all had a lot of features to offer and their quality too was pretty good when compared the Sony PlayStation 3 as the benchmark. Since the PlayStation 3 and the Blu-ray player we have for review today are both Sony products, there is a lot we can expect from the player. The BDP-S360 should ideally match up or perform better than the PS3. So let's see what this Sony Blu-ray player has in store.

Build & Design

The Sony BDP-S360 has quite a resemblance to one of the previous Blu-ray players we have tested earlier. Its design is striking similar to that of the Samsung BD-P1600. We have the same glossy front encompassing the tray and the display on the BDP-S360 as well. The player size is that of a standard Blu-ray player, and is not large or bulky. The player can easily sit in your shelf without the need for creating more space in case you are replacing your old DVD Player with this one.

The face of the player has a thin bar that houses two buttons on it. At the far left is the power ON/OFF/Standby and to the right is the eject button for the tray. The buttons are finished off in chrome and can be easily spotted on the player. There isn't any Standby light on the player, which is not so much bad, as it turns off completely.

The rest of the front of the player is a flap which auto opens when the media tray is ejected. Between the flap and the thin bar there is an LED light that glows when media is inserted into the player or the player is in use. To the extreme right side of the flap is the Play and Stop buttons. To the left of the buttons is the display of the player. The display is large enough to be viewed even from a distance.

At the rear of the device there are plenty of output connectors. To the right there is a USB port that is used only to save BD Live content. To the left there is an Ethernet port, an HDMI port, Optical Audio, Coaxial and Component outputs. There is acooling fan placed in the center at the rear, which runs pretty silent as compared to other Blu-ray players I've tested till date.