Earlier this week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft took the stage and finally announced a product that people in the mobile space have been waiting for for a long time: Windows Mobile 7, or more appropriately (since Microsoft re-dubbed the product a couple of months ago “Windows Phone,”) Windows Phone 7 Series. Windows Phone 7 will be Microsoft’s new mobile operating system, replacing the aging and unattractive Windows Mobile 6.5 that’s the mainstay of a number of enterprise-class and tech-savvy smartphones currently on the market.

Faced with stiff competition in the smartphone space from companies like Apple and Google, Microsoft was forced to come to the table with something strong or risk falling even father behind in the smartphone space – a slip that likely would have met with their downfall in the mobile marketplace. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile has never been a particularly strong OS, and the bulk of its functionality came from the fact that because it’s a Microsoft product and Exchange is also a Microsoft product, the only competition for it on the corporate side has been RIM’s BlackBerry, which unseated Windows Mobile in a huge way. Now, Windows Mobile looks dated, aged, and reminds us of an era when it’s major competition was the old Palm OS (not to be confused with Palm’s WebOS, which is on its new smartphones.)

Windows Phone 7 on the other hand, looks incredible. It’s been updated, it looks modern, it looks sleek, it’s got integration with your social networks and services, it’s got a stunning touch-screen interface, and it brings in two of Microsoft’s most successful properties to the mobile space: Zune and XBox Live. That’s right – your music and your Windows Phone 7 Series device will sync with Zune marketplace and you can snag your music from there, and your mobile gaming experience will be integrated with XBox Live. This alone proves that Microsoft means business and is rolling up its sleeves in the mobile space again.

But it’ll take more than rolled up sleeves and determination to make people abandon their iPhones and G1s for a Windows Phone 7 device.

Before we dive into why, here’s a hands-on video with Windows Phone 7 by my friend Sascha Segan at PC Magazine, who was out at the Mobile World Congress and got to see a live demo of the new operating system:

Continue reading Spinning Gears :: Thoughts on Windows Phone 7…

When I happened by all of the gaming peripherals at CES, one of the more fun booths I dropped by were BoomChair and PlaySeat. I had a better feeling about PlaySeat, but more about them when I get their press kit in the mail so I can write more about their products.

BoomChair on the other hand, was also a lot of fun – they released a number of new game chair models that all look pretty exciting, especially if you’re the type to sit in front of your huge screen TV on the floor with your controller and you’re looking for a seat that works pretty much like a peripheral for your console. BoomChair’s gaming seats are those comfy rocker-style seats on the floor that plug in to the audio output and in some cases the controller port for your consoles.

BoomChair’s products are those kinds of gaming seats with speakers built-in that are designed to rest on the floor and be comfortable to sit in for long gaming sessions – the speakers tend to be in the headrest and give you the feeling of surround-sound without having to wear headphones, so if someone is moving around behind you, the speakers in your chair will let you know. Depending on the seat, they can even plug into your console to give you the force feedback (vibration, rumble, etc) you would normally get with your controller.

One of the big moves BoomChair made this year at CES is to pick up some of those chairs from the floor where they traditionally sit and put their audio systems into standing chairs on rollers and wheels that can double not just as console gaming chairs that can sit in front of your TV, but also that you can roll over to your desk and use while you’re sitting at your PC if you choose. BoomChair’s newest products are in the image above: the Sky Lounger, the Stealth, the E-Tec, and the Admiral. All of the new ones will run between $200-$250 each. Some of BoomChair’s previous models are a bit more affordable if that’s too steep for you: some under $100. Some of them are sold out, so you’ll want to contact BoomChair directly if you’re interested!

Additionally, BoomChair also unveiled a completely different product at CES this year called the Rock Show – a series of speakers and a microphone that you can plug into any audio device that will automatically turn your favorite songs into a karaoke light-show. The Rock Show even auto-mixes the music so the vocals come off louder when you start singing, and will flash the lights on the speakers in time with the music. If you want, you can even plug in the Rock Show to your console and it’ll work while you’re playing Guitar Hero or Rockband, flash the lights in time, and give you a little more audio oomph when the person you have on the microphone starts singing. I watched some people playing Guitar Hero while using the Rock Show, and it definitely adds a little star power to the game.

[ BoomChair ]

The holidays are rapidly approaching, and if you haven’t started your holiday shopping, you might want to get busy – there are precious few shopping days left before Christmas, and even if you don’t celebrate it directly, the sales and stores are all acting like you do, so now’s the time to pick up some presents for the geek in your life, and to hopefully save a little money at the same time and get them something shiny that they’ll actually enjoy.

Now of course everyone is doing holiday gift guides, and a lot of them have a ton of expensive and superfluous junk on them that may end up on Craigslist or ebay by this time next year, so I put together a short list of five items that will thrill anyone when they see them in a pretty box tied up with a bow this holiday season, regardless of whether they’re a geek – but if they are a geek? Even better. Let’s dive in!

Continue reading Gears and Widgets 2009 Holiday Gift Guide!…

Building a Hackintosh is really no big deal, and there are tons of guides out there to help you do it if you want, you just run the risk of the thing not working the next time Apple releases a patch for Mac OS X. That being said, this particular Hackintosh is a killer.

Will Urbina decided that his old classic XBox wasn’t doing too much useful around the house these days, and it would make a good case for his Hackintosh – so what does he do? Picks up the required parts, then gets his hands dirty taking the Xbox apart and makeing it the perfect case for his new build. The whole thing is documented in the glorious video above, where you can watch step by step as Will goes through the motions of making his vision come to reality. It’s absolutely mindblowing – and not just in that “He fit a Mac in that Microsoft device!” way, either.

[ Engadget :: OS XBox Pro Casemod Build Video is Mesmerizing ]

If you were a huge fan of the game Okami, the third-person adventure game that put you in the role of Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess, on her quest to save the world from falling into darkness with the power of her celestial brush and ability to alter reality as if she’s drawing on a page, then you’ll love the upcoming Nintendo DS game, Okamiden, and the trailer is above (thanks to Joystiq!)

The new DS game apparently puts you in the role of a chibi Amaterasu, bounding about like an adorable little wolf-shaped goddess as you save the world all over again! The trailer was recently released, so stay tuned for more details – in the meantime, man it’s so cute.

[ Joystiq :: Okamiden Trailer is in Desperate Need of a Cheek Pinching

If you’ve been to an electronics store in recent years, you know that there are tons of gaming peripherals that are up there in the high hundreds of dollars when it comes to price tags – the Logitech G19 gaming keyboard shown above runs a smooth $200 US retail, and the Razr Megalodon gaming headset can run you close to $130 US. Even Logitech’s shiny G9x gaming mouse is close to $100 US.

That being said though, the question remains – will they actually up your game? Will all the promises of more precise shots, tons more frags, better raids, and higher scores that come on all of the packages actually come true if you open your wallet? I, on behalf of Tom’s Hardware, set out to find out. I went from premium peripheral to premium peripheral from some of the top manufacturers, and then eventually wound up back to plain old OEM peripherals to see if I missed them, or if it really mattered to have them at all.

I tried each peripheral for close to a week, and went from premium keyboards to mice, to headsets to gamepads, and played some of my favorite and most familiar titles, like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty 4, Team Fortress 2, and more – my conclusions? Well – you’ll just have to head over and read my debut article at Tom’s Hardware to find out!

That’s right! This article is my first byline at Tom’s Hardware and was the result of several months’ work over some pretty hard times, so I’m proud of it. Check it out!

[ Tom's Hardware :: Are Premium Gaming Peripherals Worth Your Money? ]

This fall’s XBox Dashboard update is finally here, and a number of highly anticipated services have made their way onto the dash, including Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, and Zune Video. You’ll get the update automatically the next time you sign in to XBox Live.

At the same time as a number of pundits are heralding this as a remarkable addition to XBox Live, and as much as people are cheering for the ability to read and see your friends updates on Twitter and Facebook from the comfort of your couch, and the ability to stream tunes via Last.fm, and the ability to check out video content from Zune Video, I’m a little more focused on Microsoft’s strategy here.

Back in the late 90s and the early 2000s, everyone was talking about “convergence computing,” where single devices in your home would be responsible for the bulk of your home entertainment experience. Those boxes started off by looking like WebTV and other similar products, boxes that put internet access first and other services second, but they never caught on.

Microsoft realized they had a seller with the XBox gaming platform, and since it was connected to the Internet to download games and such, it was natural to make the XBox 360 especially – even more-so than the original XBox – that convergence device. Now, with just one gadget attached to your TV, you can surf the Web, keep up with your friends, chat with them or talk to them online, play games with them, and now, watch videos via Zune Video, stream movies from Netflix, and stream music from Last.fm. We’re seeing Microsoft’s goal of convergence computing come to life, it just took a different – and less direct – road.

[ Lifehacker :: Xbox Dashboard Update Brings Last.fm, Facebook, Twitter, and Zune Video to Your TV ]

Anyone who’s played Portal will absolutely adore this video, and more importantly, the song.

Speaking of the song, you can play it using the widget below, and click the title to head over to TheSixtyOne where you can download a copy for free!

….are you still there?

Oh CollegeHumor, where would I be without you?

A writer over there has put together a set of 5 status updates you might see on Facebook from some of our most beloved videogame characters. Most of them fall into the “it’s funny cause it’s true” category, like the above: Sonic and Knuckles are apparently out having a great time and well…then there’s Tails. Poor tails.

I won’t spoil them all for you, head over and have a look! The person I found them through seemed to prefer Cloud’s status update to this one. Which one is your favorite?

[ CollegeHumor :: 5 Video Game Status Updates ]

Over at MaximumPC there are some exclusive unboxing photos of Thermaltake’s new Level 10 computer chassis, recently released and ready to go! The Level 10 is absolutely stunning in the design direction it takes – it’s anything but a boring black box to house computer components.

The Level 10 makes use of a central pillar off of which all of the components are connected, including the motherboard, the physical and optical drives, and power supply, and other components. Each section of the chassis opens in its own way to allow for installation and removal of internal components. The whole thing is incredibly elegant and definitely the type of machine you’d want on top of your desk, not underneath it.

That being said, the Level 10 will be anything but a budget case: only enthusiasts and people with tons of cash to blow on a computer case will want to drop the estimated $700 that it’ll cost to get one when they come available next month.

Tons more photos, both promo and actual unboxing shots, over at MaximumPC, click the link below.

[ MaximumPC :: Exclusive: Thermaltake's Jaw-Dropping Level 10 Chassis Unboxed! ]