Sony 80GB PlayStation 3 On Sale Now

The $599.00 80GB Sony PlayStation 3 is now available for sale online in North America. Sony didn’t previously give us a date or anything, but it looks like GameStop / EB Games is stocking the $599 80GB console (bundled with MotorStorm), and claims shipment in 24 hours. Here it is on the EB Games website.

iPhone Display at a AT&T Store Reboots, Runs Win XP

An iPhone display at a AT&T store reboots and is running Windows XP instead of Mac OS. Pretty funny after all the Mac fans were picking on Microsoft on how the Zune commercial was made on a Mac, and how “all media types and artists” use Macs…BLAH BLAH BLAH!

iPhone: Will It Blend?

So we’ve all grown to love our nifty lil iPhones.  They can make phone calls, play your music and videos, let you surf the web and allow you to watch Youtube videos, and a whole lot more.  But the question is…will it blend?

Well the curious guys over at WillItBlend.com put it to the test.  Click here to watch the video.

Possibly the New iMac Keyboard (Leaked Photos)

The guys over at Engadget have received images of the rumored new iMac keyoard. It looks pretty slick.

Click here to check out the pics.

World of Warcraft (WoW) Is Now The 90th Most Populated Country In The World

Nine Million Now Live in World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft has hit yet another milestone – this time clocking up a massive nine million subscribed players worldwide.

Blizzard Entertainment said yesterday that the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is currently working towards releasing its first expansion pack in China which is expected to further swell player numbers.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is being prepared for release in mainland China with Blizzard’s market partner The9.

“We’re thrilled that gamers around the world have continued to embrace World of Warcraft so enthusiastically,” said Blizzard president Mike Morhaime.

“We’ve worked hard to provide a compelling experience for our players, and we plan to continue updating the game with exciting new content for them to enjoy for many years to come.”

World of Warcraft debuted in America in November 2004, and was the best-selling PC game for the next two years.

Available in seven languages, the ground-breaking game still sits at, or near, the top of PC games lists worldwide.

Source: NZ Herald

Netflix to Lower Online DVD Rental Fees By $1.00

Netflix is loweiring its online DVD rental fees by $1.00 per month. OOooo..an extra whole dollar for the month or a little more than 3 cents a day. Awesome!

Source: Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Online DVD rental pioneer Netflix Inc. is lowering the price of its two most popular subscription plans by a $1 per month, relinquishing millions of dollars in revenue in an attempt to regain the upper hand in a cutthroat battle with rival Blockbuster Inc.

With the reductions announced Sunday, Netflix will charge $16.99 per month for a plan that allows subscribers to keep up to three DVDs at a time with no limit on how frequently the discs can be mailed back in return for another movie. The price for a similar plan that lets customers keep one DVD at a time will fall to $8.99 per month.

The price cuts, which take effect Tuesday, match the fees charged by Blockbuster for similar online-only services.

Earlier this year, Los Gatos-based Netflix knocked $1 off two other plans that had previously cost $14.99 and $5.99 per month.

The latest changes will have a bigger impact on Netflix’s finances because the price reductions are being made on the two plans that are most widely used by the company’s 6.8 million subscribers. Netflix declined to specify how many subscribers use each plan.

Management is expected to quantify how much the price cuts will dent its future profits in a Monday afternoon conference call scheduled to be held after the company releases its second-quarter earnings.

Netflix’s stock price already has dropped 24 percent so far this year amid worries about tougher competition from Blockbuster and video downloading services offered by much-larger companies like Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

When Netflix last cut the prices of its most popular plans in late Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings predicted the short-term financial pain would be worth the long-term market-share gains.

That prediction panned out. Netflix has added 4.5 million subscribers since lowering the price of its three-DVD plan from just under $22 in November 2004. The company also is making a lot more money, with earnings of $49 million last year compared with a $6.5 million profit in 2003.

But Netflix’s momentum has tapered off since Dallas-based Blockbuster unveiled a new option in its own online service late last year.

For an additional $1 per month, Blockbuster gives online subscribers the flexibility to return and check out some DVDs in its stores at no additional cost. That convenience represents a significant advantage over Netflix, where all DVD deliveries are made through the mail—a limitation that means subscribers have to wait at least two days before receiving a new movie.

Netflix offers a selection of more than 2,000 movies and television shows that can be streamed over Internet-connected personal computers for subscribers who don’t want to wait for their next disc to arrive in the mail.

Acknowledging Blockbuster has been eroding its market share, Netflix in April warned Wall Street that it won’t add as many subscribers this year as it originally envisioned.

Stepping up its attack on Netflix also has been hurting Blockbuster, which has had to spend more heavily on DVDs to ensure sure its stores have enough discs to keep up with the additional demand from its roughly 3 million online subscribers. The company lost $49 million in the first quarter.

Blockbuster may not be willing to endure those kinds of losses much longer, especially with the recent hiring of a new CEO, James Keyes. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last month, Blockbuster said it will modify its online service “to strike the appropriate balance between continued subscriber growth and enhanced profitability.”

UK Teen Buys PS2 on eBay, Receives Box of Cash Instead

So you win a PS2 on eBay, make the payment to the seller, and a few days later a box arrives at your house. But to this kid’s amazement, instead of a PS2 it was a box full of cash…lots of cash! $$$ If this happened to you, what would you do? Stay quiet and keep the cash, living with the fear that someone may show up looking for their 90 grand at your doorstep, or keep the 90k and move out of town!

A British teenager who bought a Sony PlayStation 2 on eBay for £95 ($194) got more than he bargained for when he opened the package. Instead of a shiny, happy gaming console, there was a whole heap of euros – €65,400 ($90,000) to be precise—stacked neatly inside. A spokesman for eBay said that the parcel’s contents were “somewhat unusual,” but that they would help the police in any way they could. When the parcel arrived, on March 20, the boy’s parents contacted the Norfolk Constabulary, who are now holding the money under the Proceeds of Crime Act. If the owner does not come forward by September 22, then the family can apply to have the cash returned to them—unless the police apply to hold onto the money for a longer period.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Sales Plunge 60% As Problems Mount

A couple of weeks after Microsofts announcement to spend $1 Billion to fix defective XBox 360s, the sales of new 360 units have drastically declined.

Microsoft said it shipped 700,000 Xbox 360 units in its latest fiscal quarter, compared to 1.8 million in the same quarter in 2006.
Microsoft’s growing troubles with the Xbox 360 video game console appear to be catching up to the company. Sales of the gaming machine plunged 60% in the fiscal fourth quarter, Microsoft disclosed Thursday.

In its earnings statement for the quarter, Microsoft said it shipped 700,000 Xbox 360 units during the period, compared to 1.8 million in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2006 — a fall off of 61%.

Microsoft’s Xbox operations are housed within the company’s Entertainment and Devices Division. The group saw fourth quarter revenue drop 10% year-over-year to $1.16 billion on an operating loss of $1.20 billion. The group lost $423 million the previous year.

Microsoft blamed the 183% increase in the EDD operating loss on a $1.06 billion charge against earnings that the company incurred to cover the cost of extending the warranty period for the Xbox 360 to three years. The move came following Microsoft’s recent admission that the gaming system was suffering from an “unacceptable” number of general hardware failures. Microsoft has also been hit with two class action lawsuits in the past two weeks claiming that a design flaw in the Xbox 360 causes the system to irreparably scratch game discs. Microsoft has denied the claim.

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that Xbox chief Peter Moore was leaving the company “for personal reasons.” It was later disclosed that he had jumped ship to video game publisher Electronic Arts.

In the meantime, rivals Sony and Nintendo have been stepping up competitive efforts. Sony recently announced a $100 price cut on certain PlayStation 3 units while Nintendo continues to enjoy robust sales of its new Wii system.

Microsoft introduced the Xbox 360 in November 2005. It has since shipped 11.6 million of the consoles. The company is doubtless looking forward to the holiday 2007 season and hoping that new game releases like Halo 3 revive the Xbox 360’s flagging fortunes. Microsoft on Thursday said overall profits in the fourth quarter increased 7% to $3 billion, while revenue increased 13% to $13.4 billion.

Meghan Miller on America’s Got Talent

Meghan Miller performing on the TV Show America’s Got Talent.  I absolutely loved her act!  Plus she’s hot too!

 Here’s Meghan performing on the Today Show a few days later:

America’s Got Talent – Quick Change Artists

This couple was on America’s Got Talent last year…I decided to revive this clip again and bring it back because their performance was absolutely amazing!!  I present to you David and Dania…ENJOY!