Filed under: Gaming

Dell did its best to unload its seemingly abundant supply of Xbox 360 Elite bundles by selling them alongside XPS M1730 machines, but just in case a few of you didn’t have $3,000 set aside to score the both of them, Dell is now offering the Elite bundle all by its lonesome for mere $299 — a nice $150 savings. To un-sweeten the deal, they’re also tossing in a couple ugly faceplates, Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Get ‘em before they’re gone.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy; thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Sprint’s AIRAVE signal booster isn’t officially on sale nationwide just yet (August 17th, for those curious), but for those anxious to pull the trigger (or merely mulling the decision), we’ve got a few hands-on shots to whet your appetite. So, where are they? Why, over at Engadget Mobile, that’s where! Keep an eye out for a review to pop shortly.

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Filed under: On the Blogs, Food Gadgets

I grew up in a family that preferred toasted cheese sandwiches over grilled cheese ones. I credit this melted cheese and toast phenomenon to the fact that my mother was always looking for ways to make meals healthier. Butter was typically the first casualty under her command.

However, not knowing that there was a world of buttery, grilled cheese sandwiches out there, my sister and I were perfectly content with the toasted version that our parents provided. These sandwiches were made easier by the fact that we were toaster oven people, making it easy to get an initial toast on the bread before adding a layer of cheese for melting.

There’s a new product on the market that could revolutionize the toasted cheese sandwich and make it accessible for everyone, even those who own pop-up toasters. It’s called the Toastabag and it is intended to be used for toasting entire sandwiches. I do see some problems with it, though. The most notably the fact that once cheese is melted, it runs to the lowest point. I imagine that if you toasted your sandwich in this gizmo long enough to sufficiently melt the cheese, you’d end up with a puddle of melted cheddar on the bottom of the bag and two greasy pieces of cheese-scented bread. Secondly, you’d never really be able to get a good toast on the bread, as it wouldn’t be exposed directly to the heating element. Lastly, unless you’ve got a wide-slot toaster, wouldn’t you be hard-pressed to actually get a full-on sandwich into the toaster slot?

Despite my concerns, I do have to give the Toastabag folks credit for clever thinking. What about the rest of you? Do think this is genius or insanity? Does anyone out there have a Toastabag of their very own?

[via CNET]

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Filed under: Drama, Casting

Oh, that pesky Mel Gibson. I have to admit, while I used to be a fan, the last ten years have pulled me out of the Gibson fold. I wasn’t planning to see Edge of Darkness, but with this latest casting notice, the pesky buggers have left me no choice.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that the wonderful, needs-to-be-in-more-films Danny Huston is signing on to the cast, along with Shawn Roberts (Diary of the Dead) and Bojana Novakovic (Seven Pounds). The Martin Campbell-helmed feature will focus on a veteran cop played by Gibson, “whose only grown-up child (Novakovic) is murdered on the steps of his home. The cop unearths his daughter’s secret life and discovers a world of corporate cover-ups and government collusion.” Huston is going to be a shady businessman, I presume somehow entangled in this mess, while Roberts will play the boyfriend of the daughter.

With a little Robert De Niro on board to clean up messes, this could be one interesting film.

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For those of you who were to drunk or busy or have been living under a cave…

Here’s an update Michael Phelps in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.  Before we begin, let’s examine that exquisite body.  Look at the way he’s able to move like a beast in the water…can he move like that in bed?  I would love to know and so would other Phelp fans.

He’s got three finals, three gold medals, three world records.  In the 200-meter freestyle on Tuesday at the Water Cube, Phelps killed the field and even his year-old world record.

His time: 1:43.  Holy shit.   Second place, Park Tae-hwan of South Korea had 1:44. Damn it must have sucked to have lost by a second. Third place was Peter Vanderkaay who came in at 1:45.  Michael Phelps now has a total of three golds and seven medals over-all.

Three down. Five more to kill,Phelps. Can he do it?

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Joss Stone is recording a song for US democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The “Fell in Love With A Boy” singer was reportedly asked to lend her voice to the song - which will be used as a theme to Obama’s election campaign later this year - because she will appeal to voters of all races.

A source told Britain’s The Sun newspaper: “Joss is a big supporter of Barack Obama and was very excited to be asked to do this for him. He sent her a personal message asking her to get on board.”

“He has always admired her music and thinks she is the perfect choice because of her unique appeal to black and white voters.”

“She believes he is going to be the first black American president and she is honored to be part of that.”

R’n’B star Alicia Keys and rapper Jay-Z have also pledged their support to Obama, with both dedicating songs to him.

However, the politician blasted a controversial song recorded by rapper Ludacris last week.

In the track “Politics as Usual,” Ludacris called Hillary Clinton - who competed with Obama to become the democratic candidate - a “b***h” and said republican candidate John McCain did not belong “in any chair unless he’s paralyzed.”

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Scarlett Johansson preferred kissing Penelope Cruz to Jonathan Rhys Meyers.The blonde beauty - who announced her engagement to Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds earlier this year - admits the highly-anticipated kiss for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” was more pleasurable than she thought it would be.

She said: “Everybody wants to know what it was like. Penelope had less facial hair than a guy so it was certainly more pleasant. It was better than kissing Jonathan Rhys Meyers in ‘Match Point.’”

“Kissing him wasn’t that bad, but he did have to stop and shave in the middle of a scene even though he’d shaved that morning. The man has really got some beard on him!”

Scarlett - who has worked with Woody Allen on three movies so far - also revealed she would “do anything” if it meant she could work with the esteemed director again in the future.

She added to Parade.com: “I worship Woody and I’d do anything in one of his movies.”

The 23-year-old actress said she has learned a lot about herself since she started dating “Definitely, Maybe” star Ryan.

She said: “I’m so fortunate to be in a very solid and comfortable relationship. I’m in a good place in my life right now.”

“I’m a really big believer in loving yourself before you can give love to somebody else.”

“The healthiest and most inspiring relationships are the ones where you’re so comfortable with the other person that you actually learn more about yourself that you could never appreciate before.”

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Kate Hudson insists she doesn’t regret forsaking her partying years to have children.The 29-year-old actress - who has a four-year-old son Ryder with ex-husband Chris Robinson - insists she would much rather look after her child than go out drinking and dancing.

She said: “Am I going to look back and say, ‘God, I wish I could have gone to that concert?’ I’d rather be listening to my son sing songs. I’d rather be watching him sleep.”

Kate - who recently split from her cycling champion boyfriend Lance Armstrong - revealed she always ensures she and Ryder stay in touch with Black Crowes front man Chris.

She said: “Ryder and I Chat with Chris constantly. No matter what is going on in my life, relationship-wise, Chris takes absolute precedence.”

“It’s important for Ryder to hear me say how wonderful Chris is, and how much Chris misses him.”

Despite having a series of failed relationships, including those with Owen Wilson and Dax Shepard, Kate admits she still holds out hope she will find her soul mate.

She added to W magazine: “Every girl wants a fairy-tale ending. And I believe it’s possible. Absolutely.”

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Is the DS evolving to become a mini Wii? I don’t think so, but that doesn’t mean rumors of a motion-and-tilt sensing control scheme won’t be used on an upcoming Tony Hawk game for the DS platform.

A new game has appeared at the Australia Ratings Classificatiosn board (OFLC) and it’s called “Tony Hawk’s Motion’ which carries a G rating. Activision has previously said that this game will launch a with a new technology that has not been seen on the DS yet. So we’re speculating that such a technology could be a motion/titlt sensor…

Won’t tilting the screen frantically make it hard to see what’s going on? Hopefully the action won’t be all that fast and it will be as playable as Super Monkey Ball.

Add a comment | From: Tony Hawk DS Could Have Motion Controls | Visit Ubergizmo

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Filed under: Industry, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Motorola (MOT)

The FCC is looking at using part of the TV signal spectrum to provide wireless high-speed internet. It is a brilliant idea that is being opposed by a large part of the television industry.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “The Federal Communications Commission will have the final say in the battle between the broadcasters — which fear interference on the airwaves they’ll still be using — and the companies including Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG). and Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) that want to share the television airwaves.”

The fight is a classic example of old media not wanting to give up something that it has “owned” for years because it may help new competition.

Tough luck. Broadband adoption in the U.S. is behind several countries in Europe and Asia, and if the FCC can offer an inexpensive solution to that, it should. The new over-the-air system would have many of the benefits of Wi-Fi, but would be more broadly available.

TV broadcasters say that the new technology could interfere with their signals, but testing can demonstrate whether that is true or not. The FCC has the chance to move broadband adoption forward with one spectacular decision. It should not balk at the chance.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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