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One of the things Apple has on Microsoft (among many) is that they have a fully functional online store available in many countries around the world.  Not until recently, Microsoft only had online stores set up in countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and Korea.  However, they unveiled a website for the United States, which sells many Microsoft products such as Office 2007, games, Xbox 360 components, and Zune products. 

Microsoft essentially has two ways of getting the products you requested to you.  The first way is the traditional shipment delivery method.  Basically, after you order something, it will be shipped to your within however much time it specifies.  The other way, which is more modern, to get what you purchased to you is via download.  Continued after the break.

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Sections: Computers, Desktops, Laptops, Gaming, Accessories, Games, Web, Downloads, Websites

Black Friday, the day when consumers can generally expect to find some good deals, is thankfully just about upon us.  With a few weeks before Thanksgiving here in the US, it seems now is about the right time for the deals to begin making their way into the public eye.  Sadly, although Dell has plenty of deals listed for Black Friday, it seems that some are not as exciting as one would hope for. 

To begin with, Dell is planning to offer the Inspiron Mini 9 for $299, which offers a $50 savings from the regular $349.  The specs for that model include a 1.6GHz Atom processor, a 4GB SSD, 512MB RAM an 8.9-inch display and running Ubuntu 8.04.

Other notebooks that are on sale (and some that will offer a much greater savings) will be the Inspiron 13 for $699 (a $329 savings), the Studio 15 for $699 (a $245 savings), the Studio 17 for $799 (a $349 savings), the XPS M1330 for $1,029 (a $319 savings) and the XPS M1530 also for $1,029 (a $319 savings).  More deals after the break.

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In the wake of the Xbox 360 receiving Netflix streaming High Definition, Roku has announced, on their own forums, that they will have HD streaming on Roku boxes before the end of the year.  Roku boxes were, in fact, the first devices to offer the Netflix “Watch Now” functionality, straight to your TV. 

On the Roku Labs Forums, “RokuTim” (Tim Twerdahl, VP of Consumer Products at Roku) told the masses that “Roku will be delivering Netflix in HD by the end of the year.“  This is great news for everybody who hopped on the Roku bandwagon early, however he also mentioned that “Roku will be using Advanced Profile encodes which will deliver HD at substantially lower bit-rates than what Xbox is offering.“  Uh oh.  Looks like the Xbox 360 has the upper hand here, and that your Roku HD movies may be a tad on the choppy side. 

More after the break.

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Sections: Video, Content, HDTV, Web, Websites

Whoa, Netflix!  First came the Watch Instantly on the PC, then dedicated boxes, then Mac, then yesterday’s announcement of Xbox and now this one: TiVo will stream Netflix content on series 3, HD and HD XL receivers and up (sorry DirecTV users, no soup for you).  Hot dang, what is next for Netflix, streaming on my toaster?

For TiVo, this is huge news.  TiVo’s loyal army surely has been considering their options as aged equipment, user interface and attractive alternative offers have been rolling in from providers.  TiVo begins testing the service in select markets today and plans to offer it nationwide by early December so you’ll have plenty of time to go back and forth on deciding for a holiday gift.

No news yet on if the HD recievers TiVo offers will get Netflix HD content.

Read [NewTeeVee]

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Even though Microsoft has “officially” stated that a Blu-ray drive would be sold for the Xbox 360, this rumor just does not want to die. The latest information is coming courtesy of the Chinese newspaper, Economic Daily News, and it seems to indicate that Microsoft is still interested in utilizing the apparent winner of the HD disc war for their game console.

The Economic Daily News is reporting that Pegatron Technology, a subsidiary of Asus, has orders, from Microsoft, to assemble Xbox 360 consoles that are equipped with a Blu-ray drive. This purported assembly is set to begin in the Q3 of this year. Microsoft has yet to comment on this latest chapter in the Blu-ray/Xbox rumor, so more as it happens.

Read [Digitimes]

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We saw the drive change to an officially dead product and now it seems Microsoft is just trying to get rid of them. For anyone still willing to purchase a drive that belongs to the now dead HD DVD format, Best Buy is currently selling the Xbox 360 drive for just $50.

While it may not be a good next generation disc player, for $50 this could still make a nice addition to an Xbox, depending on where the game system lives. In a room with little space such as a college dorm, this could still make a nice replacement to a regular sized DVD player.

Via [Wired]

• Random Amazon game deals
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With the recent demise of HD DVD and all things that surround it, this news from Microsoft comes as no real surprise, they have officially discontinued the Xbox 360 HD DVD player. Current owners need not worry though, because although discontinued the support and warranty will remain in effect.

Actually the only real surprise here is that it took Microsoft this long to make it official. A nice follow up would have been the announcement of a Blu-ray player add-on, but that still has not been mentioned. It would make sense though.

Via [Gizmodo]

• Random Amazon game deals
• Xbox 360 Arcade units confirmed to include 256MB onboard memory
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Are you tired of listening to the loud whirring noises that come from your Xbox 360? Have money to spend? Well, then you’re in luck, for Microsoft will be releasing an updated, quieter version of the most popular gaming console.

What did they fix? The hard drive. The old Hitachi-LG and Toshiba-Samsung hard drives are being replaced by a new, quieter hard drive manufactured by BenQ-LiteON-Phillips.

Read [CrunchGear] Via [X-Box Scene Forums]

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Dave Rubin is comedian and writer who has pitched shows to HBO, Showtime and Comedy Central.  His cable access show, “The Anti Show” was secretly shot at NBC studios in New York.  Dave lives with his gold fish, Fritz. He will be updating us on his quest to conquer the tech world, in a new weekly column here on Gadgetell.

My days are limited, and I know it.  For the first time in my life, at 29 years old, I have begun to look back on my life and wonder where the time has gone.  Things were going so well, so smoothly, until that fateful Saturday two weeks ago.  That was the day that it all changed.  That was the day that my 14 year old cousin beat me at Madden Football on X-Box 360…

It seems like only yesterday that I could sit Alex down in front of my Sega Genesis and put the game on “Computer Mode” and let him think that he was actually playing.  It was a win-win situation back then.  He didn’t know that he in fact was doing nothing, and for me, I didn’t have to play against a 4 year old.  Clever, indeed.

As time went on he learned to how to actually play and over the years we’ve played every version Madden known to man.  We’ve matured from Sega Genesis, to the original Playstation, to PS2 and finally to X-Box 360.  I should’ve known before we sat down that day that disaster was about to strike, I mean the controllers don’t even have wires, but I played nonetheless.

Ultimately, the reason for my loss wasn’t because of my advanced age, or because of my lack of practice, but because of the evolution of the video game controller.  See, I grew up playing the original 8-bit Nintendo.  Oh, those were the days.  The controller had only 2 buttons, “A” and “B”, and they were more then enough.  I mean for God’s sake, we even could do fancy codes in there like Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right- B-A-Select-Start to get 30 lives in “Contra.”  Yea, they were good times.

Continue on the road to Dave’s gaming retirement…

Then, along came Sega Genesis, with it’s three button controller.  At first I didn’t like the “C” button, but I soon grew accustomed to it, and dare I say my best video game playing days were on this 16-bit system.  Sonic ran where I wanted him to and jumped whenever it was appropriate.  Those too, were good times.

A couple years later, my sophomore year of college to be precise, came Playstation.  Originally, I was scared of the system altogether, much less the controller itself, but eventually I gave it a try.  I found it quite bizarre that the buttons had shapes on them, like square and triangle, instead of letters, but I like to think that I can change with the times, and I think that my play in “NBA Live ’98” reflected such.  The good times continued to roll.

Within weeks of buying PS2, I knew that my best video game playing days were behind me.  Somehow, while I shot my way through “Metal Gear Solid” on Playstation, I just couldn’t get a hold of the second one on PS2.  The controller was the same, but something about it just wasn’t right.  Nonetheless, I have played and continue to play many games on PS2, and while often am frustrated, I still have my shining moments.

And now back to where we started.  I shouldn’t have even played my cousin on that day.  See, I had been doing a lot of drinking the night before and forgot that I had to make the trek on the train all the way out to New Jersey from New York City early in the morning.  On the train I sat next to an old woman who told me her life story while knitting.  By the time I got to Jersey I was a complete mess, and before I could even sit down my cousin Alex was challenging me to a game of Madden ’06 on X-Box 360.

A half hour later I came upstairs from the basement as a defeated man.  Yea, the buttons were mostly the same as the original X-Box, but the various circumstances left my coming up short.  The 4 interceptions I threw probably didn’t help, nor did the two safety’s.  (For the record though, I do think I’m the first person to ever get even one safety in a football video game.)

Anyways, my retirement from video games is now a forgone conclusion.  However, I want to wish all you video game hotshots out there the best of luck when you’re my age and you’re playing against your younger, quicker cousin who also happens to be so hopped up on Ritalin that he can actually leave the room to get a drink during a defensive play and still manage to sack you in the endzone.

So good luck to you, and try to stay as far away as possible from the new Nintendo Revolution Controller…

Read more of Dave’s musing at The Daily Dave

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