Filed under: Gaming

We know customer support reps have a lot on their plates — especially those responsible for answer the queries of 13-year-old Halo mavens protesting supposed hackers stealing all their kills — but it looks like the Xbox Live support staff is dropping the ball on this particular issue. Pro gamer Skyllus vBi, a member of pro gaming group Team vBi, was awarded some super-rare “Recon Armor” by Bungie staff a few months ago for his entertaining method of suicide depicted in a popular online video. Naturally, his account became an immediate target for hackers, and they didn’t have much trouble swiping his info. Turns out there’s a bit of a flaw in the phone support system that allows a hacker to use social engineering to sweet talk account details out of a customer support rep without much hassle. Skyllus has had this particular attack performed on his account three times so far, and is having a bear of a time working it out with Xbox Live support staff. Not only is his precious armor in jeopardy from attacks like this, but all the credit card info and other personal details stored on a Xbox Live / Windows Live account. Stir in some of the login and account retrieval woes that many users have been experience of late and you’ve got a recipe for some much-needed intervention over in Redmond.

[Via Joystiq]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

An image surfaced on the BlackBerryForums this morning that purports to be of the upcoming BlackBerry 9000 series. The forum member with the scoop claims that the device has no touchscreen, and that rumors are raging even within RIM as to whether touchscreen devices are in the works. What can supposedly be confirmed is that the device in the picture is part of the 9000 series, 3G is being tested on multiple devices, and that HTML email is in the works for the BlackBerry service, possibly in conjunction with the launch of the 9xxx devices.

[Via Pocket-lint]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Cellphones

It seems pretty clear by now that the images and videos floating around of an iPhone running firmware 1.1.3 are legit, but if you still have doubts as to their veracity, a new walkthrough that’s been posted should put those to rest. We’ve already been nauseated by seen the jiggly icon home screen, and now we get a look at the new multi-recipient SMS feature as well, along with a brief rundown of Google Maps’ impending cell-based location tracking — which should also help Apple legal narrow its search for this rogue iPhone to somewhere in the Lynnwood, Washington area. Click down below to catch the full vid after the break.

Continue reading iPhone firmware 1.1.3 video walkthrough posted

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Evan Blass

Filed under: Features, Software, Symbian

Pretty much anyone who has used a Symbian-based device is familiar with Quickoffice, the suite of applications that brings Office documents within reach for the millions of power users out there who’ve brushed off Windows Mobile’s in-built capabilities for something a little more European in flavor. The package has just been updated to version 5, bringing with it a handful of tweaks — and most importantly, support for Office 2007′s XML-derived files.

We’ve had a while to play with it, and we’re pleased with what we’ve seen. Quickoffice has historically managed to find the right compromise between functionality and simplicity and v5 is no exception; documents loaded quickly (by phone standards, anyway — 5 seconds or less) and reading them was as painless as it could be considering our E61′s 320 x 240 display. Office 2007 docs loaded as advertised, and one of Quickoffice’s advertised new features — marquee scrolling of file names in the title bar with auto-collapsing tabs — is an awesome trick that we’d like to see in more S60 apps. At $70, the suite is probably the most you’ll ever spend for a single piece of software for your phone, but it’s pretty much a must-have if you plan on using it as a business tool. If you have a Nokia smartphone, odds are you already have a Quickoffice trial loaded that you can use to buy the goods; otherwise, it’s available now from Quickoffice’s site. Click on for some screen shots!

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Handsets

Plenty of waterproof phones and other small weatherproof devices have made it off the assembly lines and into our clumsy clutches, but P2i, a small spinoff company using tech originated within the Defence Science and Technology Lab in England, could be bringing waterproof gadgets to the masses. The Ion-Mask is a special invisible coating that is chemically bonded to the device and repels water. It should allow waterproofing to make it into devices that are too small for the seals that are usually used to do the trick. Devices can have joins and gaps coated for a general level of water repellence, or have individual components treated for even more protection. The tech was originally designed to repel toxic vapors and liquids from soldier uniforms, and could also be making its way into athletic shoes. Three leading phone makers are apparently in discussions over using the tech in upcoming phones.

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Nokia, Symbian

What’s that we see? The Nokia N95 8GB listed on the Nokia US retail site? Okay, calm down, it’s not the US-specific version (read: it uses 2100MHz WCDMA, i.e. European 3G), but you’ll still have a 2.8-inch mammoth screen, A-GPS, a five megapixel camera, and the rest of the goodies that maybe, just maybe, you’ll be willing to fork out $780 for, even knowing that a US version HAS to be right around the corner.

[Thanks, Preston]

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Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: Handsets, Motorola, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Hello, Fido! Welcome to, oh, about two months ago. We know that you live in Rogers’ ginormous shadow, but let’s try to be more on the ball, k? From the looks of your RAZR 2 product page, you’re still a little sleepy, too: “Cristal [sic] Talk” isn’t how Moto spells it — and as curious as we are about “pear to peer gaming,” we’re pretty sure you meant “peer to peer.” Anyhoo, unlike Rogers’ V9, it looks like Fido is getting the same pinkish color scheme that AT&T is rocking — for better or for worse — and features the usual V9 goodness: HSDPA, A2DP, a 2 megapixel cam, microSD expansion, and so on. Speaking of microSD, Fido throws a 2GB card into the deal, but being a couple months behind the bleeding edge doesn’t come cheap — it’ll run $150 on a three-year contract after $125 rebate.

[Via Mobile In Canada]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Gaming, Portable Audio, Portable Video

We’re nearly nauseous from all the spinning on the Xbox Live carousel. One minute we’re in, the next we’re out. Now, Microsoft is confirming that the issues are back via Xbox.com, and as if that weren’t enough in and of itself, the outfit is also informing Zune owners that they “may experience intermittent issues logging onto Zune Marketplace.” From what we can tell, there’s no definitive ETA on a resolution that will actually stick for more than ten minutes, but if we were you, we’d lock down that Hotmail account, pronto.

[Thanks, Robert S. and everyone who sent this in]
Read – Xbox.com Support
Read – Zune.net Support

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Darren Murph