Well has the mighty Microsoft ‘banstick‘ hit you?  Perhaps the economy whacked you, but you need your video game fill.

Maybe it’s as simple as wanting an extra Windows Media Center unit to watch your stuff on another TV in the house.

This is a refurbished unit, but does include a headset.  But still, quite a good price.

Shipping is about $18.

Get it HERE.

I’m on my way to another Microsoft sponsored Mobius Session this morning, this time in Seattle Washington. There won’t be much for me to post about today, but on Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll share info from sessions attended as I am able.

As usual, I’ll be updating on Twitter regularly, so if you haven’t already, then you might want to follow me.

Now, with Home Screen Customizer, you can customize the home screen of your Windows Mobile 6.5 devices. It allows you to rearrange the panels to your liking by simply pressing & holding, then dragging the panels around. It also features plug-in capability that allows other panel developers to integrate their panels into the home screen.

Features:-

• Weather, favorite contacts, and search panels for your home screen. More panels to come.
• Add or delete panels from the home screen
• Rearrange home screen panels
• Set favorite panel
• Allows other panel developers to show add form or edit form

I would say that this application is a definite must have if you are using the paneled home screen of Windows Mobile 6.5.

You will be able to download this app for free from Marketplace on your PC.

Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! Now we begin the ‘post MW2 period of the season. But while many games were moved to get out of the way of the big release, we still have good stuff, most notably Left 4 Dead 2. This game was the subject of a big boycott effort because some felt not enough DLC was released and the sequel came too soon. Have they never played Madden? Anyway, the game looks great and personally I can’t wait for an excuse to get back to more zombie-killing madness!

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In this, the second edition of “Look Ma No Hands, Voice Recognition Technology Today” we’ll take a look at getting started with Dragon NaturallySpeaking Version 10 Professional.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard has an MSRP of $99.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred has an MSRP of $199.

A few week ago, I received a copy of this book to review. I’ll admit it, I’m primarily a Mac user, but I use Windows XP at work, and I run it on my Mac in a VMWare session so I can support my Windows Mobile devices and do those things that are available only for Windows. And yeah, I’m one of the many, many, people who played with the Windows 7 betas – and I like it. Not enough to give up my Mac, but it’s nice to see what Vista should have been finally come to fruition. It’s not perfect, but it’s still very nice.

So, even though I haven’t done a book review since I left school many years ago, I was looking forward to this book because I was hoping to learn about the new OS in some detail – like in previous versions of this book. That’s not quite the spin they took this time around, however. So let’s see what they did instead…

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Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! This we get the game claiming to be ‘the most pre-ordered game of all-time (not coincidentally by folks who make money off pre-orders!) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The early word is that this is a fine addition to the franchise for console gamers, offering a similarly short single player campaign, but loads of fun in multiplayer. I say ‘for console gamers’, as the PC version has been ’stripped for parts’, with the multiplayer neutered, the ability to modify the game in classic PC style removed, and the price increased. Bleh. But for fans of console shooters, this is considered a ‘must have’.

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One of the most anticipated and overly-hyped games of the year has finally arrived – Dragon Age Origins from Bioware. Like any other game ever made, there are good and bad points. For fans of role-playing games (such as me), the facts that it was made by Bioware and was being called the ’spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate’ was enough to get me to pre-order as soon as it was possible. But there were several things that made me very wary – in particular a puerile advertising campaign that focused on blood spray, heavy metal, gore and sexual overtones to the point I thought the game might well have been called ‘Dragon Age: Blood & Boobies’. Now that the game has been released, I have already played ~30-40 hours and wanted to share a few quick thoughts. Continue Reading

I’ve just received an email stating that Walmart has their Xbox 360 Arcade with $100 Gift Certificate for $199 deal online here! Go there NOW, as they are sure to sell out!

You have to scroll down the page to find the “Add to Cart” button. Personalize the e-Gift Card and then hit “Add to Cart” again to begin checkout process!

Quantities are limited, so hurry! Go! Go! Go!

Get an Xbox 360 for $99 ($199 purchase price gets you a $100 Walmart gift card)

via BFAds

Last weekend I had the opportunity to be part of a small group of tech bloggers invited to attend several Windows 7 launch events in New York and Washington DC. I wasn’t totally clear on exactly what we would be doing on this trip before going, but I figured no matter what, it would be fun and the food would be good. I was right…

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Sometimes there is much truth to the saying “the early bird catches the worm.” Take the Walmart specials occurring this Friday – weeks before the Holiday shopping season officially begins.

If you have an X-Box or a 15″ laptop on your list for a special person (maybe yourself!), then you must be at your local Walmart in time to snatch up one of these deals. Not only can you get an Xbox 360 for $199 with a $100 gift card, bringing the price to $99, you can get a 15″ HP laptop for $296. Granted, it’s not a gaming laptop, but it would be perfect for a high school student. Walmart is showing that they will have a minimum of 10 of each per store, and if you are looking for a deal on either, you can’t miss this event. If you miss those specials, you can sonsole yourself with the $29 DVD player or the $498 Sharp 42″ HDTV.

WOW!!

Update 11/06/09 from BFAds:

We’ve got an update about Walmart’s Saturday sale which we covered in our last email.

According to the online description, the Xbox 360 Arcade console is now going to come with an e-Gift Card in place of a regular Gift Card. The only difference between the two is that an e-Gift Card can only be used on Walmart.com and not at Walmart retail locations. Considering Walmart.com offers free shipment to stores, the deal is still really hot.

via: BFAds

We love our mobile applications.  They make our phones so much more than just phones. Now, Ford is hoping developers will love yet another mobile application platform — the automobile.   Ford has opened up their Sync software development kit (SDK) for developers in the hopes that they can attract the best and brightest to build new applications to be featured in the Ford vehicle lineup.

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photo credit: Joseph Robertson

If last week’s news is any indication, we’re all about to see an army of Droids to be released and hit the mobile scene — in a very big way. Even if you didn’t already pre-order through Best Buy, Big Red hopes you’ll be stopping by their stores this Friday to see what all the fuss is about.   Some good hardware from Motorola and a faster, much improved Android 2.0 should please quite a few Verizon customers by providing what could be argued as the carrier’s first eagerly anticipated smartphone.   But will it pose any real threat to the iPhone?

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Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! Anyone who is a fan of role-playing games (RPG) is very excited for this week as perhaps the biggest RPG release of the year (we can debate whether Risen is bigger in the comments) – Dragon Age: Origins. The folks who have brought us the Baldur’s Gate series, Neverwinter Nights games, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, Jade Empire and more are back – with the ’spiritual successor’ to Baldur’s Gate. I am rushing to finish everything else on my plate so I can be ready for this one on Tuesday. Recently it was announced that the PS3 version was un-delayed, which is nice since it means everyone gets it this week!

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Welcome back to the GearGames weekly video game release feature here at Gear Diary! OK, you might be wondering why this is the only place NOT highlighting DJ Hero for this week. Well, while that game looks amazingly fun and will sell millions, I chose the expansion to one of the absolute best games of 2008 that got relatively little attention because it is a turn-based strategy game – King’s Bounty: Armored Princess. Of course, since we are in the midst of the Fall Gaming Avalanche, those are but the tip of the iceberg!

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