Sony Announces a New PS3

Sony is going to give gamers a Merry Christmas this year. The PS3 lineup will have a few changes for the upcoming holiday shopping season. For starters, Sony has announced that it will be dropping the price of the current 80GB PS3 to $499 (down $100). They will also release a new PS3 to the US for $399 with 40GB of storage. The 40GB model has already debuted in Japan and Europe, and the introduction to the US market is probably to help boost sales here. The Wii has sold 9 million units since its release, while by comparison the PS3 has only sold 5 million. (By the way, if you haven’t played the Wii, get your tushy down the nearest game store that has one and try it out.) The new PS3 will not be able to play PS2 games as the current models do so that Sony can concentrate on providing new games for their new platform. The new model will still be the most expensive of the three major consoles, but the new price tag should look a bit more appealing than the current models for those gamers on a budget.

New Zunes on the Horizon

Microsoft has announced that they will be releasing new Zunes in November. The 80 GB hard drive Zune will be available in black with a 3.2 inch screen and sell for $250. This model is the most similar to the current Zune being sold. The new slimmer Zunes will be available in a 4GB and 8GB that uses flash memory. Flash memory has no moving parts, which is a big plus for people who are hard on their devices. The 4GB and 8GB models will come in pink, green, black, and glossy red. It looks like the smaller Zunes will sell for $149.

Both new models will come with the ability to sync wirelessly and will extend the wireless sharing function. The Zune will get new touch controls as well, which I imagine will be like the current iPod controls. Also getting a facelift is the Zune Marketplace. Microsoft hasn’t said much more than this on their Zune website, but as the month goes on I am sure they will have more teaser information posted.

What’s that you say? You already have a Zune? No problem…Microsoft intends to push out Marketplace and firmware updates so that current Zune owners can get the new features on their players.

Canon Unveils the PowerShot SX100 IS

Canon unveiled a new point-and-shoot camera a few days ago that will appeal to the novice (me) and professional (my husband) alike. We purchased one Saturday and have really loved using it. It has a lot of features that your SLR’s have, but without the complication or the separate lenses and body. It’s a mini me of sorts. My husband is as excited about this point-and-shoot as I am. That should give you an idea of the features that it comes equipped with. The SX100 comes with 8 megapixels and powerful 10X optical zoom. The other point-and-shoots that I looked at in that price range for the most part had either a 3X or 6X optical zoom. It also comes with image stabilization which is a definite perk. The one thing that it’s missing that I am used to is a view finder. Good luck finding a point-and-shoot with one of those anymore. It’s slim pickin’s. The SX100 does have a 2.5 inch LCD screen though which by far makes up for the lack of a view finder. The screen is very clear and large enough that you can see what you’re taking a picture of without the need to squint.

As far as options go, there are the standard settings that most point-and-shoots have preconfigured, like portrait, landscape, foliage, night time, etc. The SX100 give you Program, Tv, Av, and M settings so that you can set all of your options like ISO, f/stop, and shutter speed manually. This is the part that my husband was excited about. I’ve found since using the manual settings that I want to learn more about what they are and how they work. You can even do white balancing with preconfigured settings, or you can manually white balance so that you get exactly what you want. The macro setting is awesome. I am finding that I enjoy this feature the best so far. The closest the manual says you can get to an object and still focus is about a half an inch. I’ve tried this out and it holds true. The picture I’ve attached at the bottom of this post is a tomato about an inch in diameter in the morning dew, taken at about an inch away. The camera does come with video capability at 640x480 and 30 fps with sound. I tried this out and was able to view the video maximized on a 17” widescreen LCD monitor without any pixelization. The sound on the video is pretty good, but you do have to be careful not to bump the camera too much or you will get those noises on the video.

Now, you may think that setting all of these features is going to be difficult. Wrong! This is one of the easiest interfaces to get around in. There aren’t a ton of buttons to begin with, and they have pictures next to them to tell you what it does (like the flower symbol for the Macro setting). It does have a wheel on the back that you can either press in the four directions, or turn around in a circle to get around your menus. The four directions are considered buttons since they each do something different when you push them. The left side of the wheel allows you to set the Macro settings, the top button the ISO settings, the right button the flash settings, and the bottom what kind of shot you want to do (continuous, single, timed, etc.).

The best part…all of this comes at the reasonable price of $300. When we compared this camera to the others we saw in the store, we felt like we got the most options for the price. Canon is really making it a point to offer point-and-shoots that appeal to both the beginner and the pro who want a camera that has SLR features, but without the bulk of an SLR.

I Finished the Fight

Finally, when I returned home Friday, I was able to play Halo 3 with my husband. We like to play these kinds of games on cooperative so that we can play the whole storyline through together. It’s handy when someone (me!) decides to run with guns blazing into battle just to be killed over and over again by hordes of enemies. He stays in a safe place, popping off a few big guys with a sniper rifle, so that I can respawn and do the whole thing over again. Hey what can I say, that’s my style. :)

The one word to describe the game is beautiful. The graphics are a big improvement over Halo 2. There was a difference in graphics and AI between Halo and Halo 2, but there’s a much bigger difference in both between Halo 2 and Halo 3. Everything in the game is much more detailed and reflects light much more realistically. When you’re in the sunlight and turn towards the sun, your gun will glint as you around catching the light. It’s hard to describe without actually seeing it. When you catch a reflection it will actually kind of blind you a bit just like it would in real life. I caught myself wanting to squint at times. It did seem as though everything was shiner as if the designers were saying, “Hey look at this neat thing we can do!” The effect was gorgeous though. You find yourself simply taking time to admire the scenery and effects between battles. Even the plant life is more detailed than the previous versions. If you run through a fern or bush, and the leaves have very detailed textures. The character’s faces show much more detail and emotion than before. And they’re smarter. And they drive better which is a big improvement over Halo 2. I always liked it when your guys would drive in Halo 2, but they didn’t drive the best and I’ve had my fair share of being run over by them. Just get out of their way and let them go, because they would always take off and kill most of the enemies before you could catch up. Halo 3 fixes that and they wait on you now (yay!) and don’t drive as crazy as they did before.

I’ve noticed that the movements of the characters are much more lifelike in this game as well. There was a scene where the Master Chief was leaning over a table with his hands on the table. I remember noting that his arms and shoulders bent very fluidly and even had that little give in the shoulder when he bent farther over. Again, it’s hard to describe unless you see the game, but it’s one of those moments where you say, “oh how cool.”

If you play the game on cooperative mode, Player 1 will be the Master Chief and Player 2 will be The Arbiter. This change is key to the storyline of the game and really helps you get into the plot. A few weapons have changed and you get a few extra, such as the Gravity Hammer. It’s pretty much a big stick that will destroy any enemy in 10 feet of you. If you run across one, pick it up. It’s great fun to use. You will also see some new vehicles this time around. The Chopper has the same principle as the Ghost, but meaner. The Hornet is a new flying vehicle that you can take to the skies with. The Wraith is harder to steal but still packs the same punch it did before. You do get the Scorpion with a few improvements. It’s faster than what it was in the previous games, and you can have a second player shoot a machine gun along with the first player still firing the main gun.

WARNING: SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH: I did get a lot of satisfaction in one part of the game when I finally was able to kill 343 Guilty Spark (aka The Monitor and The Oracle). I know he’s just a little metal floaty ball with a blue light that hums all the time, but darn it felt good to blow him up. You even get a big gun to do it with which made it even more fun. Yes, some people that you’ve grown to love do die in the game. I won’t say who, but not everyone gets to finish the fight.

Ok, the spoilers are over now. If you play Halo 3 don’t forget to do something very important. When the credits roll after the last level is over, don’t end the game. Let the credits finish and there is an extra movie at the end. I’m not going to spoil anything, but it will leave you with a better feeling about the ending of the game if you watch the final after-the-credits movie. The storyline does finish out and wrap everything up. However, the designers do leave open a few possibilities, maybe for future games or the plot of the Halo movie that is supposed to come out sometime in 2008 or 2009. That is just my speculation for what it’s worth.

All in all it was great game that any Halo fan will enjoy. It is a bit short but the graphics, AI, and storyline make up for it. If you haven’t played any of the Halo trilogy, start with the first and work your way up. I wouldn’t recommend starting with the last one and then going back to the first.

Voyager Turns 30

This fall is the 30th anniversary of the Voyager missions to the outer planets and beyond. The missions brought back the first close-up images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune along with a plethora of new discoveries about the planets and their moons. Before these missions no one knew that there were volcanoes on any other celestial body other than Earth. Jupiter’s moon Io turned out to be THE place in the solar system for the ultimate in volcanism. From fire to ice, Neptune’s moon Triton, the coldest body in the solar system, was discovered to have geysers that spewed nitrogen gas and dust high into it’s atmosphere. I grew up in the Voyager age and can remember learning about the planets from the very pictures that the spacecraft sent back to Earth. We’ve learned so much since Voyager 1 and 2 passed through our outer Solar System, and we have such a better understanding of these planets and their moons because of these two missions. When Voyager 1 passed the orbits of Neptune and Pluto, NASA turned around the craft and took a picture of our tiny Earth, which looked like nothing more than a small blue speck against a black backdrop. NASA also took pictures of the rest of the planets and made a family portrait of our solar system family. Those spacecraft are still transmitting data, 30 years and about 9 billion miles later. Scientists think the craft are approaching the boundary of the heliopause, where the solar wind and interstellar wind meet. In about 80,000 years they will reach Alpha Centauri, our closest star at around 4 light years away. In billions of years when the Sun is nothing more than a cinder, these two spacecraft will still be on their journey through our galaxy, carrying with them a piece of humankind and human spirit.

Germs From Space

Does this sound familiar? Germs from space, more powerful than what we have here on Earth, come to earth and attack all of mankind. Sounds like your typical bad (or good, depending on your point of view) 1950’s sci-fi movie. I’ve seen my share of those in my time. The space shuttle mission STS-115 that launched back in September 2006 came back with their own mini bad B-movie. An experiment onboard provided evidence that germs really do get stronger outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. A package of Salmonella was taken onboard, carefully protected, to monitor the change in the germs in zero gravity. Turns out the little guys do alter their DNA to adapt to the change in environment so they can survive. The germs were fed to mice back home and the mice were more likely to get sick and died faster than the control set who were fed the germs that had stayed on the ground. This is a handy thing to know for the future of space travel since anywhere humans go, germs go. If humans are to spend a long time in zero gravity we must learn how our invisible little counterparts will react as well. It also will come in handy here on Earth to better understand how germs change, and how to treat the resulting infections. It’s interesting to note that despite all the accomplishments that humans have done and the distances we have traveled, it’s the littlest life forms that still have the biggest impact on us.

Finish the Fight

The release of Halo 3 is just hours away. Oh, how I’ve waited to know how this saga ends. The kicker is that I am out of town for training this week. Yes, you heard correctly…out of town, without an XBOX, and without Halo. It’s a sad, sad day. I haven’t quite figured out why I didn’t check the calendar first to see what was going on this week. If I had, I would have scheduled the class for another time. I predict that lines will be no less that those of who waited for the last Harry Potter book or the iPhone. If you have an XBOX 360 and haven’t played any of the Halo trilogy (shame on you!), you should go out and give them a try.
Why is Halo so great you may ask? The sheer beauty of the game is one very appealing aspect. Combine that with a kick-booty storyline and two modes of multiplayer (online and cooperative), and you’ve got yourself an award winning game. It’s one of those games that I can play over and over, and not get bored with it. I can even find something new in the game despite the fact that I’ve played it dozens of times. Tomorrow will be a grand day for gamers. I’ll be watching from my hotel room. :)

:-) Has a Birthday

It’s been 25 years since the emoticon smiley :-) was born. It was invented by a Carnegie professor by the name of Scott E. Fahlman back in 1982. It allowed people to do something that was very difficult…express emotion in an email or other form of communication. That’s pretty important since emails can be so hard to read as far as emotions go. I wonder of Vulcans would use any kind of emoticons in their communications? :)

Touch the iPod Touch

I was able to play with the new iPod Touch this weekend at Best Buy. Yep, it’s cool – very cool. The part that would stop me from getting it right now is the price tag. However, after getting a chance to use it for a while I think the best new feature they could have added is the Wi-Fi capability. The Internet is more fun when you get to pinch your way into zooming in and out of a webpage. The screen itself is just plain beautiful. I found that the keyboard that pops up when you want to type in a webpage is fairly easy to type on. I do have smaller hands than a guy would admittedly, and my husband didn’t get a chance to look at that feature when he was there. I have heard reports from other reviewers who have big hands or chubby fingers that typing can be a problem if you don’t pay close attention to where you are tapping, but I can’t say that from personal experience.
Pretty much the Touch is an iPhone without the phone capability. I think this is a nifty thing for those of us out there who just want the cool interface and not the data plan and all the “etc., etc.” that goes along with getting the iPhone. If you get a chance to stop by a retailer who has an iPod Touch on display, you have a pinch at it. It’s definitely one of the most fun gadgets I’ve had a chance to look at in a long time. Yep, I am hoping that Apple will do a $200 price cut on it in two months. :)

iHop For My iFrogz

Whether you own a Zune or iPod (or are looking at buying one), one place that has really cool cases for them is a company called iFrogz. I own two of the custom silicone cases for my 30GB iPod Video and I love them. They’re thick and don’t attract lint (which is important for a neat freak like me). The cases I have come with a wrap that covers the whole iPod except for the screen an click wheel, a screen protector, a band that goes around the outside of the device to protect your ports, and a sticker to cover the click wheel. All are customizable. Mainly I bought mine for protection (and it does a wonderful job of that!), but the pretty colors and cool picture for the click wheel sticker are a definite perk. The Zune doesn’t have all of the same options since you really can’t cover the controls with a sticker easily and still have it usable, but you still get the screen protector, band, and wrap. They even have cases for the Shuffle, Nano, and iPhone. They currently have a special going on where you can get 50% off if you order before September 16th, so if you’re interested stop by their site before then.