Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft walk into the ring knowing they are going to take a big hit before they walk away with the gold. Industry insiders claim costs of the Xbox 360 (MSRP $399) as high as $700. That would mean Microsoft would be in the red for an entire year before they even started making a profit…

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This week, Apple Computer announced a new iPod add-on called the iPod Sport Kit. Once you have the complete set—an iPod, the add-on, and a sneaker-based sensor—you can work out and get data on your progress in real time. The software provides voice-based information, including training data and even inspiration if you seem to be falling behind in your workout. (I’m imagining something like, “Let’s move it, fatty!”)

Furthermore, a new Nikeplus.com Web site can track your workout progress over time, so you can see how far you’ve come. Not too shabby, I guess. And it’s certainly a huge indication that the iPod is a hit with the mainstream and not just the techie geeks that typically flock to Apple products.

Source: Connected Home Magazine

Electronic Design magazine takes a look under the hood of the Playstation 3, Xbox and the GPUs, CPUs and PPU (Physics Processing Unit) to see what powers the latest consoles.

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Showing the typical, small-mindedness that permeates through the councils of England, Taxi drivers in Blackpool, England, say a law barring any clothing supporting the British World Cup soccer team is unfair. The Blackpool Council ruled any shirt with the word England, the Saint George Cross or the Three Lions shield may anger Welsh or Scottish visitors during the contentious soccer championships.

The Daily Mail reports London cabbies are not under the rule, which a 42-year-old Blackpool taxi driver called “barmy.”  He found out about the rule when an officer suspended him until he changed out of a t-shirt with the word England on it.  The head of Blackpool’s taxi association, Trevor Boaler, called on the council to draw down its ruling.

In other world cup news, there’s rumors on the street that 3 Lions by Baddiel and Skinner will be making a 2006 re-release, or possibly new version with new 3 Lions lyrics - I guess Ince and Gazza will be removed…

Now that you’ve unpacked and put a few hours of playtime into your Xbox 360, we thought it’d be nice to give you some advice on how to play games/movies in glorious HDTV.  We’re taking a look at the Dell 37″ LCD TV in this review. We’re going to be covering Plasma, Rear Projection and LCD in this Xbox 360 HDTV series review and we’ll begin with the very smart Dell 37″ - Model# W3706MC.

Lets start with the basics, this LCD is 37″ and handles 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i with a resolution of 1366 x 768.  In plain english, this means your Xbox 360 games look stunning - the brightness of the screen with a nice 800:1 image contrast ratio makes for sharp graphics, solid shadows and a fast refresh rate.

Playing Xbox 360 games in HDTV gives you a major advantage over fellow gamers who may be using a regular TV - for example, when you are sniping in COD2 or BF2, the clarity of the graphics when shooting distant objects means you can find the target a little easier.

Another great thing to remember is the Dell LCD can be used as a regular TV - Dell were nice enough to include 13, let me repeat that, 13 inputs - covering TV, DTV, HDMI, Component, S-Video and Composite inputs.  You can hook up everything from cable/satellie systems, to VCR, HD-DVD, Blu Ray, video iPod and your trusty Xbox and Xbox 360 (of course!).

Considering Dell is first and foremost a PC company, we were pretty stunned when it comes to the look of the TV, the unit itself is a nice shade of silver with a chrome trim, and the accompanying speakers are in black.  The speakers can be attached to the TV - particularly useful if you plan on hanging the unit to the wall, or they can be stoof on a TV cabinent using the heavy duty stands.  The speakers are pretty good, of course, they don’t match up to a pair of German Physiks ($250,000 a pair), but then again they come free with the unit.  The remote control looks as sweet as the TV, it feels good in your hand, has a none-slip grip underneath and is backlit - meaning you can see what buttons to press when it’s 3am, pitch black and you’ve spent the last 8 hours as a special-ops Delta on the Bridge to Far map…

The Bottom Line
The Dell 37″ LCD is currently listed on Dell.com for $1899 and we couldn’t think of a better way to spend less than $2,000 to enhance your gaming experience.

For all the geeks out there, here’s the spec list

Video System Specs:
Resolution: 1366 x 768
Image Contrast Ratio: 800:1
DTV Resolutions: 480i - 480p - 720p - 1080i

Audio System Specs:
Detachable Stereo Speakers (30 Watts Output)
SRS TruSurround XT Effects

TV System Specs:
Widescreen: Full, Wide, Zoom, Standard, Regular (4:3)
TV Tuners: 2 - NTSC - Picture in Picture, SAP, Vchip

Inputs: 13
VGA (15 Pin)
2 x HDMI
TV & Digital TV
3 x Composite
3 x S-Video
2 x Component

Outputs: 4

Subwoofer (RCA)
Coaxial Digital
TOS Link Digital
Composite AV (RCA Audio and Video)