week

Week in review: Gaming's front in motion

The battle between video game console makers is in motion--literally. The three big console makers announced separate efforts this week at the E3 conference that focus on how gamers control their games.

For those of you who have been waiting for some really big news to come out of the video game industry, Microsoft answered your call with its innovative "Project Natal," a hands-free motion-sensitive controller system. Announced during Microsoft's annual E3 press conference, Project Natal seems almost certainly to be the culmination of several years of work by an Israeli start-up called 3DV Systems, which Microsoft … Read more

Al Gore wants to save advertising, too

NEW YORK--According to former Vice President Al Gore, the importance of sustainability doesn't just apply to the environment. It also is key to the future of advertising.

"It really comes out of the environment, but in my opinion the key theme of this century really is sustainability," Gore said. "This theme of environmental sustainability has become a part of our culture, it's a part of our discourse, and I'm very optimistic that it will soon be a part of our policy."

Addressing the crowd of advertisers and online-media types at the Digital Content NewFront … Read more

Internet Week party report: It never stops

NEW YORK--Tuesday evening was the first night on the job for at least one of the waitresses at the brand-new Standard Hotel, a Los Angeles import straddling the about-to-open High Line elevated park in Manhattan's downtown Meatpacking District. And it must have been quite the trial by fire when several dozen unexpected patrons showed up for an impromptu Internet Week New York gathering.

That's the thing about Internet Week. It has no centralized location, and events can vary wildly by geography. (It seems like half the panels and conferences are in midtown hotels and the other half are … Read more

Precise timekeeper

Ever wonder how many seconds you've been alive? Or how many minutes until school starts next month? Date Time Counter is a simple program that calculates every conceivable time angle on an event, whether it is in the past or the future.

Despite its simplistic layout, this program's interface is a bit confusing at first because it lacks any user guidance. A blank grid sits under a row of command buttons. The icons include New, Save, Calculator, Modifier, and other commands. Users will want to start with the New button. A simple box pops up when a new … Read more

For Internet Week, NY's tech elite emerge from bunkers

Last Thursday night, entertainment blog network Gawker Media held a rooftop party at its downtown headquarters to commemorate its advertising partnership with HBO vampire drama "True Blood"--as well as to toast to an edgy publicity stunt in which a fictional "True Blood" blog, Bloodcopy, passed itself off as an actual vampire news blog that Gawker Media had acquired. At least one reporter had been fooled.

As guests left the open-bar soiree, they had the option to sign up for a mailing list to attend future Gawker Media events. It's a far cry from just … Read more

The week in Crave: The HD edition

Didn't have time to stay on top of all things Crave this week? Don't worry, we're here to help. Following are just a few of the weird, wonderful, and important (well, relative to the gadget world) stories we covered this week.

• It's official. Microsoft will take on the iPod Touch. How will Apple respond?

• Nokia opened its Ovi store for business, promptly apologized.

• E3 is almost here, and that means lots of rumors and lots of predictions.

• But not all the rumors centered on E3. AT&T got in on the action, too.

• Looks like … Read more

Week in review: Microsoft making moves

During a busy week of high-profile tech conferences, Microsoft delivered a double shot to steal the media spotlight.

Microsoft announced its plans to take on the iPod Touch with a new, touch-screen Zune that will be able to surf the Web, play high-definition movies, and tune in to digital radio. The Zune HD, which will be available in the U.S. only starting this fall, features an HD Radio tuner as well as an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touch screen, Microsoft said. It is based on Windows CE and will use a version of Internet Explorer customized for its touch … Read more

This week in Crave: The 'apparently, you need a new smartphone' edition

If the news that scientists have crammed 2,000 movies onto a single DVD sent your head spinning so fast that you missed everything else on Crave this week, don't worry. We got your back.

• The Palm Pre finally commits. Swoon!

• Meanwhile the New iPhone continues to be a tease. :(

• Learning made smaller and lighter, thanks to Dell.

• According to Sony, these are not the photos of the new PS3 you were looking for.

• Networked media players? We hardly knew ye.

• Love the smell of napalm in the morning? Well how about plasma? As in from a plasma rifle? … Read more

Week in review: Apple's pending harvest

If you believe rumors and industry analysts, Apple is getting ready to bring some big products to market.

First and foremost, the company is likely to launch a tablet that's similar to the iPod Touch, but larger, in the first half of 2010, marking the company's entry into the Netbook race, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. In a research note, Munster handicaps the gaps in Apple's product lineup. The gaping hole: there's nothing between the iPod Touch and the MacBook. Enter this iPod Touch on steroids for $500 to $700.

Apple's game plan … Read more