Yea, that’s right. IBM announced their “World’s Fastest Microprocessor” called the z196 clocked at 5.2Ghz. It has 1.4 billion transistors, and the zEnterprise system can process 50 billion instructions a second. It even has embedded DRAM caches and still uses about the same amount of electricity as it’s predecessor. Need I say more? It will be packaged with the new zEnterprise system mainframe by IBM on September 10. The system will contain 96 of these bad boys. I’m betting Donald Trump will be picking up two of these things Friday personally.

Sources: IBM , Hot HardWare

It seems engadget recently received some leaked photos of what seems to be Xbox prompts in the AT&T U-Verse technical support; and engadget also says “Our source claims the Xbox is presently being tested internally with friends and family of AT&T employees, and that it’s likely only a couple of months away at this point.” Of course I assume this will only be available to paid gold subscribers and also could have been a factor in the raised gold prices, but it will only be available to users with AT&T U-Verse in their home already. What do I say in response to this? Turn off your xbox and turn on the cable box/dish!

Source: Engadget

“Apple revealed their revamped iPod Touch today. It features a retina display (4 times more pixels) and a 2 cameras including a front-facing camera for Facetime. It also has the Apple A4, 3-axis gyro and iOS 4.1, and HD video recording. Let’s discuss it.
I think that the camera is long over due, but overall, it’s a nice upgrade.
8GB … $229
32GB …$299
64GB … $399
I definitely think that with these prices, it won’t outsell the 3DS like it has been outselling the other DS’s. Steve Jobs went on to say that since the sales of the iOS devices are so high, it currently has over 50% of the handheld gaming market.” -crait

Discussion: Link

Also, be sure to visit our forums here to discuss the other Apple revamped products announced recently including the Apple TV and iPod Nano.

Ok, maybe it doesn’t hail from Cybertron with a cool little emblem on it, but it’s still pretty cool.

“We’ve just made the Xbox 360 Wireless controller even better with a brand new version that includes a transforming D-pad.  The engineers have come up with an ingenious solution with a d-pad that can go from a plus to a disc with the twist of the wrist.” -Major Nelson

I’m guessing this was an issue? I don’t know, maybe it is more important then RRoD? Well either way I’ll definitely pick one up for my customary LED & pic 16F688 modding pleasures. The new controller will only be sold with the Play & Charge kit coming out this November 9th, for $64.99 and will include some other modifications such as different concave analog sticks and a new button color scheme of gray.

Source: Major Nelson

“Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same. We’re confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry.” -Major Nelson

Due to new features sprouting up this upcoming holiday season Microsoft has decided to increase subscription fees for Xbox Live Gold subscribers (who may or may not even use the features), however ‘loyal’ customers who have been emailed about the changes can purchase their next year of Xbox Live Gold at $39.99 and then thereafter will be changed what the current rate is at the time of renewal. The new features responsible for the increase so far seem to be mainly the ESPN service and Kinect Video. Price changes:

Source: MajorNelson

There have been a lot of rumors about the possibility to downgrade your phone 3GS from 4.0.2 to 4.0.1.

First the rumor that you can take the 4.0.2 IPSW and copy in the 4.0.1 modified contents is bogus. You will notice this only has worked for people who have set their HOSTS file to point to Sauriks (cydia) server. While the IPSW swap does nothing (so don’t do it), people who have refurbished 4.0.2 phones that have been previously jailbroken should be able to downgrade to a previous version as the SHSH blobs have been stored on the cydia servers.

Lucky for me we just downgraded a 4.0.2 to 4.0.1. Here is exactly what we did:
1) changed my hosts file to point to Sauriks server. Instructions here.
2) downloaded the 4.0.1 IPSW
3) restored to the 4.0.1 IPSW

To make sure what was going on we used TinyUmbrella to check for existing SHSH blobs for the phone. We found 4.0 and 4.0.1 blobs. This phone had been jailbroken /hacked by the previous owner and we were lucky enough to have the SHSH blobs on file.

Moral of the story: Always back up your SHSH blob using TinyUmbrella (even if you don’t want to jailbreak it now). You can also use TinyUmbrella to just check if your refurbished phone has previous blobs stored.

Special thanks to AnniePhish.

Speculated Pricing is around $200-$300 its a guesstimate do not quote me. its a range from researching the pricing

DIMENSIONS (when closed): 5.3 inches x 2.9 inches x 0.8 inches

WEIGHT: 8 ounces

TOP SCREEN: 3.52 inch widescreen display / 800×240 resolution (400 pixels for each eye during 3D gameplay)

BOTTOM SCREEN: 3.02 inch touch-screen display / 320×240 resolution

CAMERAS: Three cameras, two on outer casing, one above top screen / 640×480 resolution (0.3 megapixel)

STORAGE MEDIUM: Cartridge slot for both 3DS and DS cards (3DS cards have a 2GB capacity “at launch”, suggesting larger sizes to come) / SD memory card slot

WIRELESS: 2.4ghz / 802.11 wi-fi / Can communicate with other consoles or internet when in sleep mode / wireless can be switched off to preserve battery life

CONTROLS / INPUT: Touch-screen / D-pad / 360-degree “Slide Pad” (the analog stick) / motion sensor / gyro sensor / 3D “depth slider” can reduce (or even disable) 3D effects in games

STYLUS: 4-inch stylus (when full extended)

AUDIO: Stereo speakers (includes stereo headphone out jack)

BATTERY: Lithium ion battery (lifespan details TBA)

PARENTAL CONTROLS: The 3DS will include parental controls

Chipset: While Nintendo is normally very closed-mouthed about the actual hardware used in their systems, there has been some news recently about the graphics chipset used in the 3DS. You might be surprised to find out that it’s not your typical NVIDIA Tegra, but instead some new PICA200 chip (yes, PICA, hold your giggles to the end please).

The DMP PICA200 (PICA200, I choose you!) appears to be quite capable to be honest, it’s a 200mhz chip that will put out 15.3 million polygons per second, 800 million pixels, and full screen anti-aliasing. All in all, a most capable graphic chip powering the next generation of portable gaming. Of course, we don’t have much other information about the 3DS (like the CPU), but overall it’s looking positive and should meet expectations.

Sources: Kotaku

In late May, longtime PlayStation developer Insomniac Games announced that they’ve partnered with EA for a multiplatform PS3 and Xbox 360 game. Apparently it wasn’t a quick decision but one that was at least two years in the making.

Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida revealed in an interview with Develop that Insomniac first made their intentions known to Sony back in 2008. Even with the advance knowledge, Yoshida admitted that the studio’s decision personally saddened him.

”We grew up together” said Yoshida. “Insomniac’s first title was on our first platform.

”They want to reach the people they haven’t been able to,” he added, “so it was sad to hear a couple of years ago what their intent was, but as we are growing, Insomniac is growing too.

”And the studio has its own ambition, so I totally understand, and I am very happy how they approached the announcement. They made sure that people know they are still working with us.”

On a more optimistic note, Yoshida believes that Insomniac’s decision will still benefit PlayStation gamers. Moving away from exclusivity will mean more content for Sony’s platforms.

”When you think about it, Insomniac is making multiplatform games. So PS3 owners should be happy because they are getting more Insomniac games as the studio hires more staff to develop more games”, he said.

Source: QJ.net

Talk is starting up again about Sony’s next home console, but according to Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida, they likely won’t be the ones to kick the next generation off.

Speaking to Develop, Yoshida said he believes either Nintendo or Microsoft will release their next generation consoles first.

“Looking from the outside, it was Microsoft that released the first of this generation of consoles. Naturally, in my opinion, Microsoft will make the first move.
“Or, because Nintendo’s approach was not to upgrade much on its basic hardware – Wii doesn’t even support HD resolution – so they might be the first to move.
“Probably the watch should be on these companies, in my opinion. Because PS3 was later than Xbox, and is more powerful, so it has a longer lifespan.”

“Looking from the outside, it was Microsoft that released the first of this generation of consoles,” said Yoshida. “Naturally, in my opinion, Microsoft will make the first move.

“Or, because Nintendo’s approach was not to upgrade much on its basic hardware – Wii doesn’t even support HD resolution – so they might be the first to move.

“Probably the watch should be on these companies, in my opinion. Because PS3 was later than Xbox, and is more powerful, so it has a longer lifespan.”

Source: QJ.net

Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime may be committed to improving the online experience on the Big N’s platforms, but legendary designer and Guy Who Makes Things Happen™ at the company, Shigeru Miyamoto, doesn’t seem inclined to exactly reinvent network play with 3DS. “We look at [online] more in terms of what can we do to provide that Nintendo flavor or magic to that community or connection experience,” he told IGN Australia in an E3 interview the site just now found behind its virtual sofa cushions.

“One of the ways that we’re looking at doing that, is the idea of really strengthening the tag mode functionality,” he explained, referring to an “always on” data-sharing feature most famously employed by Dragon Quest IX on DS. “We think that there will be some unique ideas that come out of that, and that it will have a very unique Nintendo flavor to it.” So, not voice chat or friend code-free multiplayer then?

Speaking of exchanging things with other 3DS owners: what of Miis? Already transferable from Wii to current DS titles such as Tomodachi Collection and Personal Trainer: Walking, Miyamoto commented that the pint-sized avatars moving to-and-fro between future platforms is “something that we’re definitely giving consideration to,” and that there’s a desire to “continue to try to allow people to use their Miis on different Nintendo systems going forward.” We can certainly get down with the idea of 3D Miis — or, as we call them, “3Miis.”

Source: Joystig