Crave

Simon Scarle has just made modeling a range of processes such as electrical excitations in the heart as accessible as Halo 3.

(Credit: University of Warwick)

Simon Scarle's giddy enthusiasm (see photo, at right) could be the result of getting to play with Xboxes on the job. More likely though, it's because his recent discovery about the console's graphical processing unit could save thousands of lives.

Scarle, a researcher at the University of Warwick, wanted to model how electrical excitations in the heart navigate around damaged cells to better understand and even predict cardiac arrhythmias.

To do this kind of parallel processing, researchers typically have to book expensive time on a dedicated cluster system or network of PCs; the Warwick team found that the Xbox 360 GPU was able to perform the same functions at a fraction of the time and cost. It's also far more readily available, and comes with the side benefit of being able to play Halo 3 on break.

Not surprisingly, the researcher was once a software engineer at the Warwickshire firm Rare (part of Microsoft Games Studios). Scarle says he first thought up the project while developing a "little shooter game" for Microsoft in which the player guns down enemies in a heart-shaped arena.

This is a highly effective way of carrying out high-end parallel computing on domestic hardware for cardiac simulations. Although major reworking of any previous code framework is required, the Xbox 360 is a very easy platform to develop for and this cost can easily be outweighed by the benefits in gained computational power and speed, as well as the relative ease of visualization of the system.

It turns out that the world's fastest supercomputer, Roadrunner, uses the same processor technology as Sony's Playstation 3. And while Scarle says linking more than one Xbox together is possible, it has yet to be done. "It could be done, but you would have to go over the Internet--through something like Xbox Live--rather than a standard method," he tells the BBC.

Scarle also points to folding@home, a project out of Stanford that devotes the spare processing power of thousands of PCs, Macs, Linux systems, and PlayStation 3s to understanding "protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases." The network has more than 5 petaflops of computing power, aka more than 5,000 trillion calculations per second. (Roadrunner, a $100 million system, can operate at just over 1 petaflop.)

Scarle's discovery does come with one piece of bad news. His research concludes that it is impossible to actually predict certain arrhythmias, because cardiac cell models are affected by a limitation of computational systems called the halting problem.

Episode 50 of the Digital City, where we discuss Microsoft's plans to take on Apple in both smart phones and tablet PCs; the rumor of an HD refresh of the Nintendo Wii console; and AT&T's Microcell device for improving cell phone reception in your home through a $150 gadget (that they'll be happy to sell you).

Also noteworthy, this is our very first show in our new prime timeslot of 3pm EST on Mondays, rather than the old Friday afternoon slot -- so set your Outlook calendar reminders appropriately. Plus, if you're a fan of Dan's critically ignored blend of jazzy indie rock, as the Apple commercials say, "there's an app for that."

Related links:
>>Microsoft to take on the Apple tablet?
>>Is an HD Wii in the works?
>>FYI: the Digital City video podcast is moving to Mondays, 3pm EST

>>Watch the Digital City live every Monday at 3pm EST on CNET Live!
>>Subscribe to Digital City on iTunes
>>Join the Digital City Facebook fan page
>>Need more? Follow us on Twitter!

(Credit: GameSpot)

Halo has been the defining franchise series for Microsoft across two generations of consoles. After Halo 3 was released last year, it appeared the first-person epic had finally seen its last installment. Then developer Bungie hinted at a spinoff title, Halo 3: ODST.

While ODST takes place during the events of Halo 2 and 3, the campaign does not feature Master Chief. Instead, you'll assume the role of a rookie Orbital Drop Shock Trooper who is separated from the rest of his crew. With the help of a citywide artificial intelligence known as The Superintendent, you'll find out just what has happened to them.

We have had the final retail build of ODST for some time now, and here are our impressions:... Read more

The Jabra Halo stereo Bluetooth headset, open and folded.

(Credit: Jabra)

I was quite impressed with the Jabra Halo stereo Bluetooth headset when I first saw it at CTIA 2009 in Las Vegas. It looked thin and lightweight, and promised to be the first wireless stereo headset with dual-microphone noise cancellation. Indeed, it was our cream of the crop nominee for best accessory at the show.

Now Jabra has made the Halo official, announcing that it'll be available for sale in Best Buy retail stores next week. Other features of the headset include multipoint technology, eight hours of talk or music time, Zirene Power Bass, and a 3.5mm cord option in case you can't or don't want to use Bluetooth. It also folds down to a more compact shape. The suggested retail price is $129, which may seem a bit costly, but if the HALO delivers on its promise, it would be well worth it.

Jeff's back and gives us a rundown of his minivacation to Atlantic City, N.J., and his love affair with pinball machines. A lot of other stories to talk about today, like the Zune HD, the new Chevy Volt, Spielberg taking over the Halo movie, and Hayato Shimizu's interpretation of Jeff as the superhero COMMODORE!

Jeff Bakalar as COMMODORE

(Credit: Hayato Shimizu)

The team is back together now that Jeff is back from his trip to Atlantic City, where he reportedly spent the majority of his time playing blackjack and a series of analog video games like Batman: Dark Knight pinball, skeeball, and bubble hockey. In celebration of Jeff's return, we surprise him with the image you see above, the final superhost of The 404--COMMODORE! Defending the world from positive vibes with his giant hockey stick, Commodore also wields the might Power Glove, which, unfortunately, is incompatible with today's villains, but it still looks cool! Big thanks goes out to Hayato Shimizu for his great work with all three characters, maybe we'll even seen a picture featuring LaserJet, G-Force, and Commodore battling crime for the future of podcasting!

(Credit: The 404)

As usual, we have a lot to talk about today, and kick it off with some rumor mongering about the latest Zune HD. CNET's own Donald Bell reports that Amazon is showing off retail pricing for the portable media player, listing the 16GB Zune HD at $219 and the 32GB at $289. The rumor mill continues to churn over Steven Spielberg taking over as producer for the Halo movie adaption, although the three of us are still skeptical about any long-form video game story adaptation, as we all remember what happened with CHUN-LI. We also look at the latest commercials for the Chevy Volt and its how viral advertising is affecting viewer participation.

Finally, Wilson G. Tang took it upon himself to create a 404 Dashboard Widget for Mac OS X users! You can download the video or the audio version and have the show play in the background while you finish "working." Best of all, this blog description populates nicely into the widget as well, making it super easy to auto-update and listen to your favorite episodes! Download them and let us know what you think!

With Justin's return from his sojourn into the great outdoors, The 404 crew is complete again to bring you another awesome show, replete with "GI Joe" and "District 9" reviews, optical gaming, and a surprise appearance by Motherboard!

Street Fighter style!

(Credit: Justin Yu/The 404)

After getting mauled by a bear in Yosemite (where's the app for THAT?), I'm back, and much to Jeff, Wilson, and everyone else's dismay SO ARE THE GLASSES! That's right suckers, a little Krazy Glue goes a long way, but I'm not sure how long these things will last, so please continue to e-mail us submissions for the contest to choose my next frames. I'm not gonna lie, I've missed the show dearly and it's great to be back!

The first half of today's show has a lot of movie talk, starting with us talking all sorts of garbage on the new "G.I. Joe" movie. The movie won't be prescreened to critics, and we suspect it has something to do with the trailer receiving so much backlash from justifiably angry fans of the original television series. Jeff also gives us his take on the trailer for "District 9", the new science fiction movie based on the short film Alive in Joburg. Go check that out and let "G.I. Joe" go the way of the buffalo!

The second half just gets nuts, that's all I'll say. OK, well, without giving too much away, it all starts with the Get It Guy, a fake Australian accent, and a very steamy call from SadaCori in the chatroom (a must listen!), but then we get a surprise knock from Motherboard herself, who has something very special to show us...something that NOBODY HAS SEEN BEFORE, so be sure to check out the video for all the details. After that, we dredge up a claim about racism in Resident Evil 5 and it all devolves from there. Trust us, it's the last time you'll hear about it!

As always, feel free to leave us a voicemail at 1-866-404-CNET or get in touch with us on Twitter or at the404[at]cnet[dot]com!

As first outlined at the E3 video game industry trade show in June, Microsoft is readying an update to the dashboard software that runs on Xbox 360 game consoles, as well as the Xbox Live online service.

While it's not as radical a change as the fall 2008 dashboard update that added avatars and Netflix streaming, there are a lot of improvements to current features, as well as a few new ones. The dashboard update will be available for 360 owners on August 11th, but we were able to download an early version for a test drive.

Included were notable features such as the Avatar Marketplace, for buying (via Microsoft Point micro-transaction) clothing and accessories for your avatar, and the Netflix Party Mode, for watching a streaming Netflix movie along with online friends.

Missing from our early download, however, were the much-anticipated Twitter and Facebook apps, as well as the Games on Demand service for Xbox 360 games. Currently only older original Xbox games are available (also not available -- any of these Five classic adventure games that need to be re-released as digital downloads).

Click through to the gallery below for our walkthrough of some of the new Xbox 360 dashboard features.

Inside the Summer 2009 Xbox 360 dashboard update

> Need more? Follow me at twitter.com/danackerman.
> Laptops, games, and more--every week on the Digital City video podcast.

An obviously staged shot of Master Chief "in action".

(Credit: Microsoft/Warner Bros.)

A few years back in 2003, when the new Matrix movies were debuting, Warner Bros. also released a straight-to-video compilation of animated short stories based in the Matrix universe called "The Animatrix."

Each segment was produced by a different Japanese anime studio, and there were actually some pretty cool takes on the Matrix that emerged from this project. More recently, WB did the same thing with "Batman: Gotham Knight."

Now, WB is teaming up with Microsoft to do the same thing with the Halo universe. This fall they plan to release "Halo: Legends," a direct-to-video compilation of several animated short stories based in the Halo universe.

Popular anime directors Shinji Aramaki ("Appleseed") and Mamoru Oshii ("Ghost in the Shell") will be working on the project, as will familiar studios like Production I.G. ("Blood: The Last Vampire"), Studio4 ("Tekkonkinkreet"), Toei Animation ("Dragon Ball"), Casio Entertainment (visual effects work on "Big Man Japan"), and Bones ("Cowboy Bebop: The Movie").

Microsoft also announced a new Xbox Live feature coming this fall called Halo: Waypooint.

Waypoint will be a hub for all things Halo. Users can access podcasts, trailers, screenshots, and "exclusive footage." Exclusive footage, I'm guessing, of upcoming Halo projects like Halo Reach (I hope).

They're also implementing what sounds like an achievement-based career system and player rankings to Waypoint that will be affected by both in-game and out-of-game accomplishments.

Xbox 360 video game exclusives--screenshots

View the full gallery

One of the biggest decisions when choosing a video game system has to be the exclusive games. Console manufacturers go to enormous lengths to tie up deals with developers and their publishers in order to claim one console's superiority over another.

Numerous titles and franchises are only available on Xbox 360 including Gears of War, Halo, and Forza MotorSport.

Now that E3 2009 has come and gone, let's take a look at some more 360-only titles that are scheduled for release in the coming months.

Stay tuned for our PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii exclusives slideshows, both coming soon!