Ipod Annoyances

Why is there no cross fade on the iPod? That's just the silliest ommissions I have ever seen.

My new phone

I bought a Audiovox 5600 phone yesterday. My old Pocket PC phone just had to many issues (like rebooting in the middle of a call, or Bluetooth flaking out.) I also switched to AT&T;/Cingualar from T-Mobile. They had a better deal, and is the only place to get the phone.
I have never had a 'candy bar' style phone, so we'll see how that goes. I have pretty much had flip phones or Pocket PC Phones over the years (and boy, have I had a lot of phones over the years)

This phone is pretty damn fast, and pretty good so far. If you have a smartphone, send me some links for custom homescreens, ringers etc....since I need personalize this phone a bit.

The one thing I can't figure out is what the heck is going on w/ the phone? I mean AT&T; / Cingular merged, but this phone is NOT on the Cingular website...only AT&T;'s? Does that mean it's getting dropped? Did I just buy an orphaned phone? We'll see.

I hope someone who works at AT&T; / Cingular read my blog and can tell me what's up.

TriXie Blogs

One of my co-workers here at Xbox, TriXie, has her own blog @ MSN Spaces. It's a little girlie, with all the celeb and book stuff. What about the video games you play TriX?

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A very special holiday surprise from Sony for PS2 owners

If you own a PS2 (yea, I know there are a few of you that read my blog) be careful...you could get all of your saved games erased from your memory card if you pop in Sony's Holiday Demo disc.

How's THAT for a nice little Holiday surprise....Sony style.

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Halo 2 passes 5M milestone

This press release went out this morning...cool stats on how much people are playing Halo 2 on Live.

(begin press release)

Holiday Shoppers Flock to Retailers for Everything Xbox
Global Phenomenon “Halo 2” Surpasses 5M Units in Sales Worldwide,
Supercharging the Xbox Live Community and Xbox Console Sales


Kicking off the start of the frenzied holiday shopping season, retailers welcomed hordes of Xbox consumers over Thanksgiving weekend. Gamers flocked to purchase the Xbox video game system, Xbox Live subscriptions and Xbox games, not the least of which was the blockbuster Halo 2.

Transcending borders, Xbox gamers around the globe also continued to devour copies of Halo 2, which has now sold more than 5 million copies worldwide since its launch on November 9. In fact, the Halo franchise has exceeded the 11 million unit mark, with cumulative sales from Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 and Halo for Windows.

Xbox consoles are proving to be hot purchase items at retailers this holiday. Console sales in the United States increased nearly 50% percent in sales this week, when compared to Thanksgiving week last year. Holiday shoppers continue to recognize the unrivaled entertainment experience and incredible value of the Xbox game console.

“Xbox and Halo 2 are on most consumers’ must-have lists this holiday season,” said Robert McKenzie, Vice President of Merchandising at Gamestop. “Popularity for both the Xbox console and its number one title Halo 2 is an early indication that Xbox will enjoy a stellar holiday season.”

The Xbox Live community has logged a record-setting 28 million hours playing Halo 2, which is more than any other Xbox Live game in the two-year history of the global service.

The instant action and immersive gameplay in Halo 2 propelled gamers to play online
for an average of 91 minutes per session, approximately the same length as a major
motion picture. Out of a universe of more than one million Xbox Live members,
Halo 2 on Xbox Live has already attracted more than 900,000 unique users.

In addition to the Halo 2 phenomenon, Xbox is satiating the entertainment appetites of adults and children, all ages and personalities. “Fable,” the ground-breaking Xbox role-playing adventure game from Lionhead Studios and Microsoft Game Studios has reached new heights, racking sales of more than one million units worldwide in only two months since its availability at retail. Other great games for the entire family include the Platinum Hits series, with seven new offerings at a tremendous value of $19.99, including Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3 from Ubisoft and NFL Street from EA.

Xbox is also reaching new consumers with the launch of Xbox Live Arcade on November 4, introducing a new social experience for gamers of every level with popular retro classics and broad appeal games like “Dig Dug”, “Bejeweled”, and the fully Xbox Live-enabled “Fuzzee Fever” directly to Xbox over the Xbox Live service.

In North America, holiday shoppers can purchase the Xbox console, two full premium sports games (“NCAA Football 2005” from EA Sports and “Top Spin” by Microsoft Game Studios) and a two-month trial subscription to Xbox Live™ for just $149.99.

“This year’s holiday offer provides something for everyone in the family and is a great value for Xbox consumers,” said Mitch Koch, vice president, worldwide retail sales and marketing for Microsoft’s home & entertainment division. “With the combined value of the Xbox console and two great games, the retail offer opens the door for new and old customers alike.”

Pull your Halo 2 stats into Excel

Check this out. This guy built an Excel spreadsheet that will pull in the Halo 2 RSS stats feed from Bungie and let you look at your data in all sorts o' ways. Now I can see exactly which map I suck the most at (Beaver Creek) and which one I actually do pretty good at (Zanzibar.) Once you get it set up, you can refresh the data as much as you want and it will pull in the most recent data from Bungie.net.

If you have Excel (and Halo 2) you MUST get this spreadsheet.

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Get your own free blog at MSN

MSN (the site with the big multi colored moth) launched "MSN Spaces" tonight. Now you can go sign up for your own (free) blog. I went over and snagged "Major Nelson" already...so you're outta luck if you wanted to screw with me.I don't think I'll be moving my blog over there, but some of the things that n00bs can have on their blogs is pretty cool.

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I bought an iPod

I mentioned last week that I bought an iPod. I have a Rio Carbon, which is an excellent device, but it has a couple of irritating design issues. 1) It's really slow to scroll through all of the songs with the scroll wheel. 2) The scroll wheel is on the corner of the device...which means that it gets bumped into anytime you toss it in your pocket/bag...meaning its more susceptible to break.

So far the iPod life is pretty good…but where are all the cool 3rd party Windows applications? I have Anapod Explorer, which transcodes my high bitrate music down to lower bitrates (very cool), but is that it? What about any other cool apps?

Scroll wheel-cool
Form factor-cool
TONS of accessories-cool
Does not do WMA-uncool since there are thousands of devices that handle WMA’s

And the number 1 word of 2004 is.............

Blog

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I cancelled my Tivo today

I finally got around to canceling my Tivo service. It was a funny phone call to their support line. I got this person who asked my "would you stay if we offered you the service for $6.95 a month?" Isn’t it funny how when I am ready to leave they drop the price in ½?! I politely told him that I WOULD have stayed if they never increased the price in the first place. My other reason was that the Tivo can’t record HiDef off of cable. HE put me on hold, then came back and told me it was cancelled. He then asked me if I still had the Tivo unit. I said yes…he then told me I should try to sell it on eBay, since they are selling like hotcakes. I though that was a kinda odd ending to the phone call.

Anyway, I am Tivo free now…and saving money as well!

Finally called to cancel my Tivo

Called Tivo to cancel today...odd conversation. When I told them I had a Media Center PC and the new Motorola Cable box that could record HiDef TV...They told me if I was willing to stay, they would give my a $6.95/month 'deal'. When I declined, he suggested that I sell my Tivo on eBay. I found it odd that a customer service rep would suggest to sell my hardware on eBay.

Anyway, after two minutes on hold..they came back and cancelled.

Portable Gaming

With the DS out now, and the PSP coming soon (I think?) I have re-activated my thinking about portable gaming. Is it right for me? Do I need one? Sure I *WANT* one (who doesn’t want a cool new piece of hardware?) But do I need one? The answer always comes back to no. I have my Pocket PC..I mean Windows Mobile Phone..I have my iPod, (Yes..I broke down and bought one...I’ll post my thoughts on that another time) but do I really need a 3rd device tethered to my person? I can’t make the justification for one. A co-worker showed me his new DS last week, and yea it’s cool. Dual screens and all..and the graphics blow ANYTHING away I ever saw on a GBA...but I just can’t do it. If I want to play games while I am out, I do that on my Windows Mobile device….it works fine. That’s not to say I’ll never get a PGD (portable gaming device) but I am not a place in my life where I need on. That could change any day though.

Nintendo online? Well not yet........

Now that I have awoken from my tryptophan coma...here is an article about how Nintendo is going to move into the online space. Are they late or what? I wonder who convinced who over there that online is not a fad.

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