XBOX 360 Announcement Leaked?

Dean T. of the Mercury News just made an oops and leaked some Xbox 360 announcements Microsoft was planning on dropping next week at CES. Not only does he mention the improved Xbox 360s with 120GB hard drives and HDMI ports, he also talks about the use of the Xbox 360 as an IPTV set-top-box.

The leak says Microsoft's IPTV services will have instant channel change, multiple picture-in-picture, broadcast shows, video on demand, and DVR functionality—gotta use those 120GB for more than just trailers. - gizmodo.com

Sounds awesome but what about all of us that bought our 360's last year? Are we just screwed? If this rumor is true I guess I will be ebaying mine.

Passers-by catch tumbling toddler

Two passers-by rescued a toddler who fell four stories, scrambling to catch him as he tumbled from a fire escape, police said.

Julio Gonzalez, 43, and Pedro Nevarez, 40, saw 3-year-old Timothy Addo dangling from a Bronx building on Thursday, police said. The boy had crawled out of a window when his baby sitter briefly took her eyes off of him, police said.

"He was hanging on for dear life," Gonzalez said.

Hearing people in the building scream for help as the boy's grip weakened, the men rushed over to position themselves under the fire escape to catch him. - cnn.com

Steve Jobs To Take Leave Of Absence?

TheStreet.com is publishing a rumor that Steve Jobs may be taking a leave of absence from Apple. No further explanation is provided, as the rumor is simply stated as an announcement is forthcoming.

Rumors regarding Steve Jobs can often get out of hand, and the current rumor may simply reflect speculation based upon the ongoing SEC stock option backdating investigation. The Street in 2005 issued apparently false rumors that Apple and Google would partner to deliver iTunes tracks through Google. - macrumors.com

Last time Jobs left Apple it almost died. Steve has always been the leading vision of Apple though it would be stupid to say they couldn't survive without him. But do we really wanna test that theory...

Keith Richards smashing his guitar against a fan rushing the stage

Wow dont mess with Keith Richards. Dude's got an ugly streak.

Warner to Unveil First Blu-ray/HD DVD Hybrid Discs at CES

In a surprise leak of what could well turn out to be the biggest high-def news to come out of this year's CES, The New York Times is reporting that Warner Home Video is set to bring the first Blu-ray/HD DVD hybrid discs to market in 2007.
According to the story, the studio is hoping to both calm consumers' fears over the competing next-gen formats as well as spur high-def hardware sales by creating a Blu-ray/HD DVD hybrid, which the studio is dubbing a "Total HD" disc. - highdefdigest.com

This would be very cool if it were adopted. I own the Xbox 360 HD DVD player and I am already starting to get annoyed at not being able to buy some of the movies I want because they were released on Blu-ray instead of HD DVD. There is also a rumor that LG will be releasing a hybrid player that will play both formats. I think this is the solution to look for.

Pitch Black Restaurant Opens in Beijing

this is a restaurant that invites the consumers to eat in total darkness. It opened on December 23 as part of the Blind-Liecht foundation.

The meal will be taken in this environment with the complete loss of vision. By starving one's sense, your other senses are stimulated to full alert - all so the theory goes - and your food will taste like it's never tasted before.

All illuminating devices such as cellphones and watches are strictly forbidden and the employees work with night-vision goggles. So the food may taste better, but the burns on your tongue would hurt even more. The Beijing restaurant is the latest addition to this chain of dark restaurants—others are located all over the world. - gizmodo.com

Dubai Getting an Undersea Hotel

Dubai, a place that represents what happens when a few people have way, way too much money, is going soon be home to Hydropolis, the world's first underwater luxury hotel.

Costing nearly $590 million to build, the 220-suite hotel should be completed in December. - gizmodo.com

Cool idea and all but I have seen enough movies to know this can and probably will go way wrong some day. There is a mock up picture in the article but I really feel they need to re-think the design a bit. If you don't follow me then never mind.

Angry Woman Accused Of Setting Walgreens On Fire

Store employees said their night turned from frustrating to scary, Monday. One moment, the customer was angry. The next, she was going up and down the aisles lighting merchandise on fire.

For workers at the Walgreens on South Orange Blossom Trail, Tuesday morning, it was back to business. But after what happened Monday night, business will never quite be the same. "I smelled smoke in the cooler and I was like, 'What's going on? What’s going on?' Ran out and I see big black smoke all over the store, black on the ceiling, black everywhere," Ambriose said.
Employees said an angry customer was to blame.

"She just came into the store and she got pissed off because the change was incorrect or something," Ambriose explained. That's when the anger turned into action. The woman started going down the aisles, employees said, with a lit cigarette and started setting merchandise on fire. - wftv.com

Autonet Mobile

Autonet Mobile, a new company claiming to be the first car-ISP; that is to say, Autonet is only concerned with getting your car (and the devices in it) online (although we really don't see why you couldn't just use one of these as an in-home backup connection). The Autonet wireless unit, which will run for $399, serves up the in-car WiFi using what appears to be Verizon's EV-DO network (we haven't yet confirmed which it's using), which they claim will provide service on up to 95 percent of US roads for $50 a month when it's launched this spring. - engadget.com

Favorite Songs of 2006

I made an iMix in iTunes of some of my favorite songs from 2006. You can click on the picture to go to it. I had a bunch more songs but these are the only ones iTunes recognized. Oh well... enjoy.

LYFOX Widget

One of the only things I miss from my Windows days is being able to watch music videos for free on Yahoo Launch. Well now Mac users can feel the love too with the new LYFOX widget. LYFOX or Launch Yahoo For OSX let's you search and watch Yahoo videos on your Mac using Quicktime. Very cool little app. Get it here.

Happy New Year

Just wanted to say "Happy New Year" to everybody. 2006 was rough year for my family and some of our close friends. We have suffered too much loss this year and I can't say I'll be sorry to see it go. So here's looking forward to a new begining. I hope all of you have a great new year. Cheers...

P.S. I am starting my new year by going to a hockey game so it has to be good right... Go Preds!

Speak of the Bevill Widget

So I am back from Christmas and all the craziness that goes along with that. Here is an experiment for you Mac users. I decided to try and make a widget for the site to use with Dashboard. It's pretty basic right now but maybe I can keep working on it over time. Download it here.