There you have it, the first VoIP call made on the Touch. Software should be out tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled for our very own hands on video.

Some poor kid was expecting to receive a new iPod (Touch or Classic not specified) but instead received what appears to be a viral message from either a filthy commie or Adbusters. The note instructed her to reclaim her mind from the “media’s shackles” and read a book. It doesn’t say which book, but I’m guessing not something from Oprah’s Book Club.

It also directs directs her to claim her “capitalistic garbage” at her nearest Apple store — problematic, since she bought it at a joint in Maryland called Germantown. I guess with things like this happening there, they should change their name to East Germantown. Zing!

Girl Gets Bizarre Surprise Instead of iPod [My Fox]

An XBL user has reported that his account has been hacked for apparently the third time just recently. The hacker actually responded to a message from the hackee with the message above, pleading ignorance of the previous hacks, and from his complex grammar and use of elaborate codes (”eevr” and “neevr”) we may deduce that these people are highly educated, organized and extremely dangerous.

Actually, there’s probably just some tool script kiddies are passing around so they can jack special achievements, armor, etc, but the problem is that Microsoft is doing nothing about it. The guy called support and was given the runaround (meticulously detailed in the post). With a subscriber base of eight million gamers, Microsoft can’t be expected to respond like lightning to every threat, but an apparently critical flaw like this should probably be investigated. We’ll keep you updated, and in the meantime be safe out there kids!

Forum Threads at Team-vBi and Bungie.net

If you’ve been pondering the purchase of a Slingbox then this may be your chance to get on the wagon. Woot has some refurbs for only $75 shipped. It’s a refurb and that may deter a few of you, but Woot is covering you for 90 days in case it kicks the bucket. Why not try it out?

Woot

With CES two weeks away things are leaking left and right. This time around we’re finding out who has Intel’s 45nm Penryn processors lurking within shiny new notebooks. Ok, so we pretty much knew who was doing what, but now it’s official according to Notbook Italia. Acer will launch at least eight notebooks ranging from 12.1- to 20.1-inch screen notebooks. Fujitsu has two lined up while Sony has five VAIOs geared for next month. RAM, HDD and graphics cards are standard fare for the most part. Look for more Penryn news when CG lands in Vegas for CES.

[via Daily Tech]

Owners of a WD MBWE with intermediate Linux experience looking for a good time should hop on over to Martin Hinner’s site. I don’t own one so I have no interest in improving the performance of said external nor do I want to add new features to it, but I’m sure one of you do.

Hacking Western Digital MyBook World Edition [via Make]

Sign up for CC.
Purchase HDTV.
Get a free PS3.

Any questions?

Sony Offer

Whoa. 1.1.3 icon moving in the flesh. Pretty cool stuff. It looks like this is the real deal and folks like Nate and the inventors of iBrickr got this in order to help the unlock process prior to the launch. Could this be a renegade Apple employee, tired of having to explain to his friends why their Solitaire app stops working every upgrade? Nah. What I suspect is happening is that someone got their hands on some development firmware prior to MacWorld’s SDK announcement and this basically shows us what to expect in a few weeks. They keep talking about signed code over on Gizmodo so that meets a Mac developer doesn’t want to lose his license. Oh, and it breaks all third-party apps and activations.
via Nate True

PMA is about a month away so the rumor mill is slowly building steam. The K100D has been cleared from Pentax’s site and I can see why the K200D would replace it, but the Super hasn’t been around a year so I don’t see it disappearing. It’s safe to say that the K100D’s replacement is coming, but the photos of the K200D look pretty fake. They look sloppy. The grip looks shaved down, which is going to suck because that’s one of the great things about the current line. The card access lamp has been taken from below the Fn button to the top of the four-way controller. It just seems stupid to do that. The lens unlock button is a full circle as opposed to a half moon. The rest of the controls look the same. The addition of RAW on the fly would be amazing. There’s a weird button next to the shutter release. Check the photos for yourself.

Read More

A reader writes:

I got my girlfriend an Amazon Kindle for xmas and over the past few days it has progressively gotten worse and worse screen damage, despite barely being used (and never abused). Amazon acted like they had heard of the issue before and are trying to advance us a replacement but the backorder list is apparently huge so we don’t have very high hopes to see a replacement anytime soon. Have pic if you are interested, was mostly just curious if you had heard anything from anyone else about similar issue because Google finds nothing of the sort
its to the point now where the unit is unusable, about the top 1/3rd of the screen is garbled beyond recognition, and each time we turn it on it seems like more rows of pixels go out

I haven’t seen this issue, but now I can’t download fresh content, which makes Trog angry. Anyone else seeing weird eInk problems?

UPDATE – Jason just sent us a pic and an update:
Read More

Dru at Gearlive saw him some 1.1.3 firmware and discovered:

The ability to send an SMS message to multiple people is now there
* Google Maps application can now pinpoint your location using cell tower triangulation
* Google Maps can now display the Hybrid map view
* You can now drag and drop application icons on your home screen
* The home screen supports pagination
* You can now add web bookmarks to your home screen

The server is hosed, but it looks like Apple is ramping up for third-party apps.

Hosed Gearlive

Stop with the ‘Tattoo Designs’ already
Optimus announces another dope keyboard that doesn’t really exist
Boston gets cellphone reception on T, thinks Yankees suck
Women can’t fly ships!
Wiimote Gamer Glove: Nerd Alert level delta

Blizzard, pull your head out of your ass. Just because some snot-nosed foreigner makes a video for YouTube rapping about a patch for Warcraft III does not give you the right to pull this shit. Well, at least the chick was hot. Pretty sure I’m gonna barf now.

Karune Debuts as YouTube Rapper — Phear’em Eminem! [Blizz Planet]

You can’t seriously be working on a sequel to one of the worst Wii games ever, right? I assumed the previous rumors were, that, just rumors. You better have better controls and a better UI among other things for Red Steel, Ubi. I think I’m about to barf, but it could just be the Absinthe I took a shot of.

Ubisoft Reveals Red Steel 2 Coming in 2008 [Shack News]

Do you often find your Wiimote airborne? Is the included strap too wussy for your bulging Bowling muscles? Are you tired of beaning your roommate in the melon each time you serve in Tennis? Have we got the thing for you!

Sure, it’s another strap. But this one’s attached to a high-impact extreeeeeme sports glove! Never lose your Wiimote again, playa! Game on, man, game on!

OK, actually, it’s rather dumb.

Wiimote gamer glove [Fashionable Geek, via Shiny Shiny]

Hot on the heels of this year’s never-released Optimus Maximus superkeyboard, Optimus has taken the concept one step further with the Tactus keyboard. The idea is similar, but instead of customizable keycaps, the keys themselves are virtual.

Cool idea, but as anyone who’s tried to play Mario on an iPhone can attest, there’s a definite advantage to the tactile feedback real buttons (or, indeed, keys) give a user.

Optimus Tactus concept keyboard [Slippery Brick]

*Drool*

It’s 20 minutes of Hadouken fury so strap in.

I wonder if they’ll be shipping out little samples of crack with those DVRs – because in my experience, people who go TiVo rarely go back, and when you only need to lay out $125 for a year’s worth of services, tuner included. Because these kids weren’t watching enough TV already. Actually it’s pretty much good for everyone who goes for it; you don’t have to miss your quiz just to catch the season finale of “House.” Here’s a tip, you whippersnappers: why don’t you TiVo yourself a book? Dag nabbit! Go Huskies.  (edit: Yes, I’m rooting for UW even though this post is about WSU, what about it?)

Housing Services to offer TiVo to WSU housing residents [Daily Evergreen Online, via PVR Blog]

The arcade classics are coming back in force, and one of the big daddies of them all is certainly the Metal Slug series. Metal Slug 1, 2, and X were fantastic, but Metal Slug 3, in my opinion, stands apart as simply the best run-and-gun game of all time. Not only is it beautiful, but the branching paths, extra weapons, and co-op multiplayer will keep you entertained for years.

You can get it on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 points, but beware, this game is so hard that it will actually play you. My advice is to get a sweet arcade stick, although I’ve been playing it on my keyboard for the last few years. Now where’s my Radiant Silvergun?!