That's right, Joachim watched 3 seasons of the TV series 24, to reach the 72 hour mark—beating his previous record of 69 hours and 48 minutes. Although, after watching movies for 123 hours and 10 minutes straight, this feat seems like a walk in the park. Truly, if endurance "athletes" were treated like other high-profile sports figures, we would see Joachim on the Wheates box...eyes half open, pouring coffee over the flakes. [Yahoo]

[Watchismo via Technabob]

The PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) system software version 2.41 is now available for update from July 8, 2008. With this update, we have fixed the problem that prevented a limited number of PS3s from activating properly after updating to version 2.40, when certain system administrative data were contained on the HDD...

...We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you and appreciate your understanding and continued support.

Damn that system administrative data! It gets us every time. [ThreeSpeech]

[Kotaku and Playstation Blog—Thanks Eric]

Seriously though, any problems to report? (Suckers?) [PlayStation Forums via Maxconsole]

Here's what you'll be able to do from the in-game XMB:

* Friend category
* View, send, receive messages
* Manage downloads
* Set the vibration feature of the controller
* Sign in to PlayStation Network
* Register friends
* Manage Bluetooth devices
* Terminate the game
* Music category
* Use the system BGM
* Work the system BGM operation panel
* Settings category
* Assign controllers
* View profiles
* Game category
* Set audio devices
* Use the voice changer

Under the music category, you can play back your own music, though it's not known whether you'll be able to do it with every game or just specific titles that support it. Either way, it'll be nice to finally have some basic functions that sorta should've been there in the first place. [CVG via Kotaku]

Our momentum will continue with the introduction of in-game communication in the summer, firmware update 2.4 and the strongest line-up of games through our third party partners and our own studios. I'd personally like to thank our trade and business partners for helping us on the start of the PS3 journey.

So, there's going to be improved in-game chat (maybe expanded to every game via an in-game Xross Media Bar?) that's even better than the chat we've already used now? Sign us up. [MCVUK via Kotaku]

• 24-inch Aluminum Mac for $1,899 (original price $2,299)
• 20-inch Aluminum Mac for $1,249 ($1,499)
• Previous generation iMac 17-inch for $849 ($1,199)
• Previous generation iMac 20-inch for $1,099 ($1,499)
• Previous generation iMac 24-inch for $1,399 ($1,999)

• MacBook Pro 15 2.2GHz $1,499 ($1,999)
• MacBook Pro 15 2.33GHz $1,499 ($1,649)
• MacBook Pro 15 2.4GHz $1,649 ($2,499)
• MacBook Pro 17 2.33GHz $1,899 ($2,799)
• MacBook Pro 17 (with 1,950 pixels high resolution display) 2.5GHz $2,349 ($3,049)
• MacBook Pro 17 2.6GHz $2,349 ($3,049)

[Apple Store]

[YouTube]

P.S. Please don't make next season suck as bad as this one. – Jason Chen

Product Page [HMV]

First on the list, predictably, is copying the interceptee's SIM card, sending all of their phone calls (if you're on the same tower) and texts straight to you. The second method uses a (very illegal) firmware update to turn your phone into a radio, picking up "all the texts broadcast on a given channel," though obviously you'd need to know the network and be close to the base station for it to work. While less precise, it's also cheaper than buying the equipment to clone your mark's phone.

Lastly, you could get ahold of some actual Bond-style toys used by the DHS and other three-lettered agencies, but that sounds like a ticket straight to either the front page of the NYT or the bottom of some classified prison in a country whose name we can't pronounce. Not that the first two methods are any less illegal, so get your Linda Tripp on with caution. – Matt Buchanan

How Do You Intercept a Text Message? [Slate]
Image via Kiefer Sutherland 24

What's this have to do with gadgets? Absolutely nothing. – Jason Chen

CTU Rookie

Jack Bauer Gear [uncrate]

•Great International Roaming and Reception: Seeing as he spent the last year and a half in a Chinese prison, Jack Bauer needs a world-phone that can work anywhere. Mexico? China? A sewer where he Lost Boys the hell out of some terrorist? He needs it in all those places.

•GPS, Maps, Directions: Jack has this in his own phones, but he definitely needs it on phones he finds in cars or steals from downed terrorists. This guy only has a MOTORAZR? Better go kill some more.

•Remote Detonation: Remember when Jack Bauer detonated some bombs with a Treo 650? Yeah. He does that all the time.

•Tortureproof: If Jack can't figure out how to work a feature, he's either going to have to call Chloe (or the newly returned Milo—yay Milo!) to tell him, or torture it until the cellphone just does what he wants.

•100-megapixel Camera With 200x Optical Zoom: When he needs to identify one man he just killed from another man he just killed, there's no margin for error. Then again, CTU can always just "enhance" the image once it's uploaded.

•5G Data: 3G? 4G? None of these are fast enough to grab schematics and upload the 100-megapixel pictures he takes back to CTU.

•24+ hour talk time: Who knows how long Jack's already been using his phone when he needs to go on a United States-protecting killing spree?

So to sum it up, Jack Bauer needs a phone from the future—one that's definitely NOT the iPhone. When is he going to have time to listen to the iPod, check stocks, or use the touchscreen? Plus, who knows how well the sensors work when there's blood all over it. – Jason Chen

Jack Bauer Kill Count [Re-live every kill with full video and snapshots]

Image courtesy Flickr

The naughty bits: water cooling, a countdown-style LED, slide out motherboard, a set of vandal-resistant switches, two power supplies, and lots and lots of man-hours.

Check the link for detailed photos of each grueling step of the process.

WMD Part II [Bit-tech]