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Archive for September, 2007

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Laguna college adds game major and Warcraft art show

September 28th, 2007, 2:07 pm by

World of Warcraft art show at Laguna College of Art & DesignUPDATE, 10/4/07: Just got a list of Blizzard artists whose pieces will be on display. See below…

Everyone is jumping on the computer and video games trend, including the Laguna College of Art & Design.

This fall, the school debuted a new major: Game Art, with a focus on digital media for games. The new Bachelor of Fine Art degree is being touted by the school as a way graduates “will be qualified to enter this billion-dollar a year market.”

And to kick off the new major, the school is hosting a free exhibit featuring works inspired by the World of Warcraft, the massively popular online game from Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment.

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Posted in: Blizzard • Blizzard/Warcraft/Star Craft • • • • • • | Comments Off

Ezra Update: Warcraft fan has ups and downs

September 28th, 2007, 12:25 am by

For those readers who have been following the life of Ezra Chatterton, the 11-year-old World of Warcraft fan battling brain cancer, I just heard from his father Micah. (Catch up by reading old posts)

The good news: He hasn’t had a headache in a month, which indicates the cancer has stopped growing. It’s possibly begun to shrink.

But complications from various medications are causing problems. Ezra headed back to the hospital on Monday with stomach pain.

Says Micah: It’s one of the mean ironies of cancer that the treatments are often just as painful, if not more so, than the disease. Still, we weren’t sure that he’d even get this far, let alone be able to come off all the pain meds he was on.

Ezra’s Old Rancher character for World of WarcraftEzra became famous last spring after the Make A Wish Foundation offered to grant his wish. His desire was to design characters for his favorite game, the World of Warcraft.

Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment did more than oblige. Staff artists, designers and developers worked with the young Riverside boy to create characters (including the Old Rancher, pictured on right), a quest and weapons. Ezra even got to do a voice over. And he went home piled with Blizzard goodies, not to mention a personal invite to this summer’s BlizzCon.

But I’m sure he would trade all of that to get rid of his cancer.

His father writes:

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Posted in: Blizzard • Blizzard/Warcraft/Star Craft • WoW • • • | Comments Off

One month left to catch R2D2 mailboxes

September 27th, 2007, 5:51 pm by

R2D2 mailboxThe U.S. Post Office just informed me that those lovely R2D2 mailboxes, mentioned here and here and here on this blog, will be heading overseas after Oct. 25.

Why? “To be used at military installations. I can see it now… ‘Artoo enlists with the Marines’ …. ha,” said Richard Maher, a USPS spokesman.

I was hoping they would be auctioned off. It’d be cool if the Register would splurge and buy one for our headquarters.

So, last chance: If you want to see the R2D2 boxes in person, you can find them in two places in Orange County:

Westminster: 15401 Brookhurst
Irvine: the new Northwood Station, 1 League

Yoda stampIn other “Star Wars meets U.S. Post Office” news, 900-year-old Jedi Master Yoda is the stamp of choice, as voted by America. The Postal Service will release a sheet of 20 stamps featuring Yoda on Oct. 25. A kick-off event for the stamp is on the same day at 10 a.m. at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Meanwhile, the Star Wars stamp collection, which has been on sale since spring, will retire on May 25, 2008. The Yoda stamp will retire Oct. 25, 2008.

Posted in: Uncategorized • • | Comments Off

Disney’s phone service ends not so happily ever after

September 27th, 2007, 2:29 pm by

Another mobile-phone service bites the dust. This time, it’s Disney, which will pull the plug by the end of the year.

I mention this because this was one service reviewed here on The Gadgetress, with help from Nancy Luna and family. We all liked it because it gave parents control over how long and who their kids could talk to. Plus there was a locater feature so parents could see on a computer where in the world their kid was. We gave it a 4-out-5 rating.

The reason for the unhappy ending, according to this AP story, is Disney had “problems getting the phone into large retailers.” Really? Disney had problems? Imagine the little guy who is trying to get a product in a place like Macy’s…

Story goes on to say that because retailers had exclusive deals with other cell-phone carriers, even Disney with its golden touch couldn’t get retailers to budget.

Service will continue to the end of the year. This is a big bummer to anyone who signed on. In exchange for the inconvenience:

  • Disney will reimburse customers for handsets and accessories that were purchased through Disney Mobile. More details on this will be available Oct. 8, 2007 at disneymobile.go.com
  • Disney will waive early termination fees if customers end their contracts before Dec. 31.
  • Disney encourages customers to transfer the phone number to a new carrier before Nov. 30. More details on transferring cell-phone numbers HERE.
  • Here’s a link to Disney’s FAQ page for consumers: Click HERE.

Posted in: Cell phones | Comments Off

D-Link updates its MediaLounge player

September 27th, 2007, 1:57 pm by

D-Link’s MediaLounge, the DSM-750

More news from the Digital Life event in New York. D-Link, which made the trek from its Fountain Valley headquarters, has updated its MediaLounge MediaPlayer.

D-Link’s MediaLounge, the DSM-750Just like older models, the new MediaLounge DSM-750 connects to a TV in the living room, for example, while wirelessly connecting to computers in other rooms to grab video, music and photo files and, as of yesterday, access to 200-plus Internet TV channels.

Today’s updated MediaLounge adds technology to extend Windows Media Center from Windows Vista computers to TV. Extenders began popping up after Microsoft introduced its Windows Media Center for XP. This allowed TV shows recorded on a Media Center computer to be streamed to a TV in another room.

D-Link’s MediaLounge, the DSM-750

D-Link’s new MediaLounge claims to be capable of streaming high-definition video, thanks to integrating the latest Wi-Fi technology called draft 802.11n. It also includes an HDMI port and a USB 2.0 port to plug in a thumb drive to view photos. The $350 MediaLounge should be available in stores and online in November.

Posted in: Video & TV • Wi-Fi & networking • • | 1 Comment »

Mac users get new, improved iWOW plug-in for iTUNES

September 27th, 2007, 10:42 am by

SRS Labs says Mac users can get an even better surround sound experience with its new version of iWOW for iTunes.

In addition to better audio than the original iWOW, SRS says the iWOW 2 has new preset options and allows users to listen to and view movies and videos in surround sound over headphones on iTunes.

iwow-mini-mode.gif

You can create and save presets for specific songs, videos and podcasts. A new auto-present, automatically chooses the best iWOW preset based on the information in the music or video. Other presets were created for podcasts, techno and acoustic music. There are three new playback settings for videos.

iWOW 2 requires a Mac running OS X 10.2 or better with iTunes 6 or better. The plug-in can be downloaded directly from SRS Labs and other leading download sites. The plug-in sells for an introductory price of $19.99. Users who have previously bought iWOW 1 can try the new version and upgrade for $11.99.

For more, CLICK HERE. ~Mary Ann Milbourn

Posted in: Apple mania • • • • | 2 Comments »

Gateway One puts ports on power pack

September 27th, 2007, 6:30 am by

**New info added 10:21 a.m. to address some comments**

Irvine’s Gateway Inc. is no design star in the computer world. Few companies are. But its latest computer, simply called “One,” is an all-in-one beauty that has folks talking it up on message boards. No wonder:

Gateway’s One


At a Digital Life press conference in New York this morning, the Irvine company will unveil One, which has been in the works for months.

Gateway Profile 4 all-in-one PC circa 2002Gateway Profile 6Gateway has long offered an all-in-one computer, which means all of the computer parts (hard drive, processor, memory, etc…) are fused to the back of the screen. The Gateway Profiles have been out for several years, with minimal success. Pictured on right is the Gateway Profile 6 and the Profile 4.

Gateway’s Glenn Jystad answered a few questions ahead of time. Mainly, what’s so special about this new computer?

Jystad, Gateway’s senior manager in the consumer products division for consumer desktops, points to the power cable as a key difference from everything else out there:

Gateway’s Smart Power Module

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Posted in: Computers • • • | 12 Comments »

‘Halo’ makes history

September 26th, 2007, 3:43 pm by

More Halo 3 coverage from ocregister.comA hero rose

True to Microsoft‘s words, Tuesday’s launch of “Halo 3” did indeed become “the biggest day in entertainment history,” ringing in $170 million at cash registers all over the U.S.

That tally eclipsed what until Tuesday was the one-day record for entertainment revenue: The “Spider-Man 3″ movie, which made $151 million on May 6 this year.

So, does this news from Microsoft surprise me? Yes and no. I had little doubt that “Halo 3″ would break the then-record of $125 mil in a day set in 2004 by “Halo 3,” but $170 mil! Wow.

Those are some big numbers. Granted, editions such as the $130 “Legendary” version assuredly helped boost these figures, but it’s impressive considering this game only runs on a still-relatively new console — The Xbox 360, which only turns 2 in November.

This tally is also significant because of its boost for the 360 in its battle as the king of the current generation of consoles. Looks like the rivals have some work to do, especially Sony.

– Matt Degen

Posted in: news • • | Comments Off

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