Sony’s PS3 Component Cable Feature Cut Explained

You might be aware by now that Sony views your continued use of component cables with a console that has a perfectly good HDMI port as something of an affront. Or at least, that’s the way it’s been portrayed in the press. The truth is only about 10% more complicated. You see, Sony has no problem with your gaming via component cable to your antiquated, analog little heart’s content.

It’s that other big PS3 feature they keep touting that has suddenly become too good for last generation’s HD cable. The one that’s sort of like Netflix, only without the convenience or the savings. ”The new CECH-3000 series PS3 requires HDMI only for BD movie output in HD, in compliance with AACS standards,” according to Sony, who claim it’s a DRM issue. If only they’d been as concerned about security a few months ago, am I right?

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Google Confirms 10 Million Google+ Users

Earlier in the week we heard a rumor that Google was getting close to 10 million Google+ users, Google’s CEO Larry Page confirmed in the recent earnings call that Google now have over 10 million Google+ users.

It took Google just two weeks to reach 10 million Google+ users, and considering it is still in a trial with limited invitations this is an impressive number.

Larry Page also announced that Google+ users are sharing over 1 billion items per day on their new social network, and during the last week of June Google+ accounted for 35% of all tweeted links.

We suspect that Google+ is going to be extremely popular, and wonder how many Google+ users there will be when Google rolls the service out to everyone.

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gScreen Dual Screen Spacebook Finally Reaches Pre-Order Status

Some of you might remember the dual screened gScreen Spacebook notebook we featured here on Geeky Gadgets back in February 2009. Well gScreen has now finally moved their dual screen Spacebook into pre-ordering status after more than two years of development.

Over the last two years the specifications and screen sizes have increased as you might expect to bring the systems more in-line with power notebooks currently on the market, all-be-it with single screens. The Spacebook is now equipped with 17” full HD dual screens with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 , and their are two models to choose from either an Intel i5 4G or i7 8G.

The Intel Core i5-560M 2.66GHz processor is supported by 4GB of RAM retails for $2395 but is on special offer if you pre-order with a 50% saving. Together with the Intel Core i7-740qm quad-core 1.74Ghz processor supported by 8GB of RAM which retails for $3795 but is also currently down by 50% for pre-orders.

More information on the new gScreen dual screen notebooks is available from the GScreen website

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Google Docs Now Supports RAR & ZIP Files

If you are a user of Google Docs you will be pleased to know that Google has now added support for both RAR and ZIP files. The new compression support now enables you to receive RAR and ZIP files in to your Gmail account and view the contents within your browser without the need to completely download the files to your desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet device.

ZIP and RAR archives that are embedded inside other archives also work. For example, if you have a RAR file inside a ZIP file so you can just click on that file to access the embedded archive.

For more information jump over to the Google Blog post covering the newly added support.

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Otterbox Unveil 3 New HTC EVO 3D Cases

Otterbox has unveiled three new cases it has just launched to help HTC EVO 3D owners keep their device safe, with the introduction of the Defender, Commuter and Impact cases. All three offer slightly different levels of protection and style to your HTC EVO 3D smartphone.

The Defender Series for HTC EVO 3D is perfect for people who need hardcore protection, while the Commuter Series for HTC EVO 3D is a slim case that offers a high quality safeguard against harmful bumps and shocks.

Finally the  Impact Series cases have a core on the inside of the case to dissipate shock and include a self-adhering screen protector. The new HTC EVO 3D Defender, Commuter and Impact series cases will retail for $49.95, $34.95 and $19.95, respectively and can be purchased directly from the Otterbox website.

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Microsoft Leaks New Social Networking Site

It looks like Microsoft has a new social network in the works, called Tulalip, which the company has just leaked on Socl.com, a website which was registered by Microsoft back in 1998.

Microsoft has since removed the details on their new social networking site from Socl, and replace the details with the following statement.

Thanks for stopping by.

Socl.com is an internal design project from a team in Microsoft Research which was mistakenly published to the web.

We didn’t mean to, honest.

There are no details as yet on what Microsoft’s new social network will involve, although it looks like it will feature both Twitter and Facebook integration.

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Microsoft Has Best First Party Games

Following the tradition of game industry execs under the impression that saying something will magically will it into existence, here’s Xbox CFO Dennis Durkin’s take on Microsoft’s first party studio output: best there is. Sony and Nintendo aren’t usually all that reality-based when it comes to talking up their own offerings, but this particular case strikes us as something of a doozy.

“I would ask you to go and look at some of your data,” he explained, “just to compare first party performance over the course of this lifecycle, because I think our first party performance in terms of quality bars and units per title this shift has been superior to our competition’s,” according to the exec.

“You can’t dispute titles like Forza, which has consistently come out on a repeated cadence and sold multi-million units. You can’t dispute things like Fable, which again, on a very consistent pace, has come out and sold two and three million units a pop,” he went on. We may not be able to dispute them, but we have a feeling titles like the ten million-plus selling Wii Fit and five million-selling Super Mario Galaxy might be able to.

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Gamestop Using Battlefield 3 To Steal March On Steam

Gamestop’s purchase of digital delivery service Impulse is no secret by now. Their strategy to make it into a Steam-killer, however, is, or at least was until outed by Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian’s report. It’s pretty much what you’re thinking, Gamestop is planning on using the EA/Steam feud and Battlefield 3′s conspicuous absence from the aforementioned service to tear a 1.5 billion chunk of the market from Steam.

 ”The upcoming EA titleBattlefield 3 will be sold as a download through GameStop, but not through Steam. Given Steam’s dominance — and insistence on users downloading a Steam client application — publishers are likely to be receptive to a competitive alternative,” reads the report. It seems unlikely that a single game, even one as anticipated as Battlefield 3 can topple the digital delivery giant, but whatever Valve do to counter this maneuver, it’s going to be something to watch.

Source Gamasutra

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