11:50: Ten minutes left until the star (Daniel Radcliffe) and the director (David Yates) pop up and start talking about the movie while watching the movie.

11:51: If you're using the PlayStation 3, you should make sure you've got the correct audio output to hear the audio stream. Otherwise, like myself last time, you'll hear nothing.

11:53: If you miss this, it'll be on BD-Live in a few weeks, says the British announcer.

11:53: I just figured out that they're doing this livecast at 12 noon instead of 6PM Pacific because kids in the UK need to watch this too. Otherwise, it'd be 2 in the morning.

11:55: There's a weird bug right now with two audio streams being overlayed simultaneously. One announcement and one...announcement.

11:56: Oh and if you need to get in, here's the invite.

12:00: Two voices talking simultaneously is more annoying than you'd imagine.

12:02: It's about to start in a minute.

12:02: Before we start, I gotta say this was probably in the top half of the Harry Potter movies, for me. The only problems I had with it was the fact that it looked like the whole movie had a power outage. And, that it didn't follow the book as closely as other movies.

12:03: It's starting.

12:04: I'm having audio difficulties and had to restart the movie.

12:05: It would be nice to go through one of these screenings without technical problems. You'd think the PS3 would be the most stable platform, but I guess not. And now it's having trouble loading the BD-Live.

12:06: Millions of kids around the world are logging into BD-Live right now apparently. Hey kids, get off my (virtual) lawn.

12:06: I'm back in! Daniel is talking about Harry Potter and how he differs from the character.

12:07: To answer a person who asked a question about if Dan learned anything from Harry Potter, he says yes.

12:10: His favorite movie is #5. He likes shooting and watching that one.

12:10: The director says he doesn't have a favorite.

12:12: Oh wait, the director couldn't make it—this is someone else.

12:12: Harry Potter is there though.

12:13: Daniel is saying the director is great, and can see the whole film while shooting an individual scene.

12:13: Here's a little hint of how Dumbledore is gay: he was treasuring a knitting magazine (with JK, the author, on the cover).

12:15: Someone asked what other movies he wants to try and get into, and Dan says he wants to concentrate on finishing the last two movies, and then maybe go back to the stage in London or NY.

12:17: Now a question about Alan Rickman. How did Dan feel about hearing Alan Rickman speak, in the first movie? Answer: probably terrified.

12:19: It's too bad the director isn't here, because I would very much ask him why the movie is shot during a power outage...in a black hole. Seriously, I couldn't see anything.

12:20: Q: Is Helena Bonham Carter as cool as she looks?

12:20: A: Yes. Also she is mad. And she pulls off that wig well, and she is hilarious.

12:23: Someone just asked him about what bands he likes. It'd be better if they focused on, you know, what's going on in the movie, but I guess that's the kind of question we're going to get today.

12:24: Q: Is Emma Watson as beautiful in person as she is in the movies?

12:24: A: "Yes!!" That Dan.

12:25: And now they're singing the praises of Blu-ray, and saying the interactive experience of Blu-ray is "mindblowing."

12:25: This is the first time they've actually seen one of the Harry Potter movies on Blu-ray, apparently.

12:27: What Blu-rays would you want directors' Q&A of? Post in the comments.

12:27: Q: "What's your favorite special effects sequence in this film?"

12:27: A: The island near the end of the movie, with the cabin and all the monsters in the water.

12:28: A: Dan's favorite is the dragon chase in #4.

12:30: Q: "If you had the ability to use an invisibility cloak, what would you do?"

12:30: A: Dan says robbing banks. He did not say sneaking a peek of Emma Watson.

12:32: Q: "Are you or the others going to be Twittering soon?"

12:32: A: Dan says no. He says he likes Twitter, but he feels he'd be inundated.

12:35: Dan's talking about sports.

12:36: For the most part, the audio stream is a lot more stable than it was during the Terminator live event.

12:38: What's the next step in these? Video streaming of them in a corner? That might be pretty fun.

12:39: Dan says he was in the right place at the right time to get the part of Harry.

12:43: Unfortunately the two people answering questions, Dan and the other guy, don't know any technical stuff. It's too bad the director couldn't show up.

12:44: Q: Has anyone ever challenged you to a Harry Potter trivia match?

12:44: A: Yes, and I've lost every time.

12:48: I'm leaving out the questions about him playing Quidditch and other silly dialogue, btw.

12:54: To answer my own question, I would really love to hear Michael Bay give a commentary on Transformers 2. I'd like to hear his thoughts behind why he wanted to do the CG a certain way, or if he left that all up to the CG folks.

12:57: Q: Besides acting, do you want to get into another part of the film business?

12:57: A: I'd love to direct, but it's a long way off.

12:59: And now, a peepee break.

1:06: We're back.

1:06: They're talking about how an actor on screen now playing Marcus Belby was killed, stabbed, while protecting his brother.

1:10: It would be nicer if you could submit questions directly from your Blu-ray player as well. That would make it more of an all-in-one experience, without having to have a phone or a computer in front of you.

1:15: On another note, BD-Live kind of forms the basis of community watching, in a sense. Right now you can watch with directors and hear them talk, but if you can go in the direction of the Netflix community watch on Xbox Live, you can get communal viewings with your friends as well. That would be pretty interesting, being able to watch the same movie, synced, with a buddy across the country.

1:21: Someone asked if they could get Ricky Gervais into the movies.

1:34: Slight spoiler for #7: They'll be playing themselves in that one scene.

1:41: They're talking about the acting process, and the audition process and so forth. Nothing that interesting.

1:43: Q: Do you find it hard working around green screens and CG?

1:44: A: Not really. I don't have to spend a lot of time in front of a green screen. I only have to do about three days in front of a green screen at a time. In the first film I did a month in front of a screen for Quidditch and that was mind numbing.

1:52: Looks like the audio stream just cut out.

1:53: It's back.

2:00: I'd also like to hear JJ Abrams talk about Star Trek too. That would be one interesting live commentary.

2:01: I think they're doing another peepee break now.

2:10: Now the audio is just cutting in and out like mad.

2:29: Oh wow has it been 20 minutes since I typed something. How long is this movie?

2:34: The audio is finicky again, and the movie's about to end.

2:42: Movie's over, and they're saying their thanks for watching.

2:42: Thanks for reading! (Maybe we should stick with Sci Fi movies from now on.)

Ustream has had an official iPhone app available for a while now, but due to Apple's strict policies users could only upload video online after filming was finished—ie, not live at all. Enabling live streaming video from your iPhone to the internet, it works over a 3G connection and can update Twitter/Facebook etc of your live-streaming status.

You've probably seen updates from friends before, using Ustream or Qik on other devices (or jailbroken iPhones), but this week's app launch is big news for anyone who's been following the live-streaming video debacle.

If you're tossing up whether to download Live Knocking Video or Ustream, well, they're both free—but otherwise we'd suggest going for the latter as it has one major advantage over Knocking, the ability to stream video to the internet, rather than purely to another iPhone. Of course, you can't ignore Knocking's developer's gall, emailing Steve Jobs himself to get his app approved. [Ustream via TechCrunch]

The crux of the matter is that the warranty on an Xbox 360 "is not transferable," so if you buy a used console "that has been previously banned, you will not be able to connect to Xbox LIVE." So if you buy a used Xbox 360, make sure it's from a less-than-shady party—and if you buy from a used games shop, make 'em connect it to Xbox Live so you know you're getting something that works. [Major Nelson]

Oh wait, you just died—as planned. Oh my, the fact that you were alive just seconds ago.

Apparently the back cover pops off to get to the microSD slot. It might be thicker than the Kindle, but not enough to matter. The LCD is surprisingly nice, though the viewing angle isn't super wide or anything, as I found out trying to angle around the crowd. But yeah, it looks like what an ereader should look like.

Here's a quick touchy touchy video:

4:24: Barnes & Noble's CEO has taken the stage. He's planning on unveiling something, he says, but first, some history!

4:27: You see, Barnes & Noble has done a lot of things with paper books, evidently. All of which are tangential to the matter at hand, that ridiculous two-screened Kindle killer thing that we're all itching to lay eyes on. Sidenote: this sounds like a eulogy for paper more than anything else.

4:28: Ah, on to the ebook stuff. William Lynch, President, is here to talk about electricity and the internet and such.

4:31: Some relevant background: Barnes & Noble has over a million books in their ebook store, and have seen over three million downloads for their mobile apps. They've even decided to give a quick nod to B&N-compatible hardware from iRex and Plastic Logic, which is awfully sportsmanlike.

4:33: Yes! On with the Nook. The intro video is standard boilerplate: the screen is "crystal clear," downloads happen in "seconds." Of course you already know this.

4:36: Now we've got hardware. It exists, in spacetime! It looks smaller than I would've thought in a human being's hand. Interestingly, Android earned a shoutout—the OS was sorely missing from the prior leaked launch materials, despite that fact that it's total nerdbait.

4:38: The onscreen keyboard—on the bottom screen, natch—looks spacious but kind of gridlike, rather than staggered, which could make typing a little awkward. The bottom screen turns off when you haven't used it in a while, which makes sense: it'd kill battery life, and if you're using it for controls, you probably don't need to see it most of the time anyway.

4:40: Malcom Gladwell is here to read one of his books for a few seconds. I mean, hey, nice essays and all, but that's a strange looking man.

4:43: They're putting the Nook in all of their stores—this could be kind of a coup for them, since Amazon doesn't even have stores. This is what their giant retail displays will look like.

4:47: If you take a Nook to a brick-and-mortar store, you get free Wi-Fi, which is nice, I guess. More importantly, you get to browse an entire ebook for free each time you visit, which is sort of like a digital equivalent to shelf browsing. Sort of.

4:49: Aaaaaand that's it, at least for the tragically gutted announcement portion of tonight's proceedings. The Nook, as we expected, will ship by the end of November, and preorders will open tonight. People who were lucky enough to squeeze a preorder through earlier today know that "late November" means "November 30th."

There's a Q&A session coming up in a few minutes, so they're telling press to stay. At the same time, they're blasting the stupid "TONIGHT'S GONNA BE A GOOD NIGHT, MAZEL TOV" song, which says to me, "Go." We'll stick around, but only out of a sense of duty.

Q&A

4:56: We're back, and questions kick off with a question about ePub formats. They like it, which is why their entire catalog will switch to it when the Nook launches.

4:58: So, what about Android? They like it because it's optimized for small screens, but they're not saying a whole lot about apps. They, ahem, "haven't announced" anything about app development, but they're comfortable using the phrase "when we do," which is veeeery promising.

4:58: Says the rep about the prospect of a browser, "browsers on E ink are clumsy." Yeah! Stick it to E Ink! He's right though.

5:00: How does lending work? It'll work between any Barnes & Noble account, meaning anything with a Barnes & Noble reader app—iPhone, BlackBerry, PC, another B&N-compatible reader, etc.

5:06: Now Matt's got a question. Actually, like three: Is there anything exclusive to the Nook that you can't get in other apps? No.

And back to Android, anything else on those apps? Yeah, they're open to it, including games, but they're not making any announcements yet. (Again, promising!)

And finally, what kind of touchscreen tech does the bottom screen use? It's capacitive (but I don't think it's multitouch).

5:10: Now my turn, to follow up on this Android business, which all seems a little half-done: They've got reader apps on iPhone and BlackBerry, and now the Nook, which runs Android, so where's the Android app? "We're watching it closely" is an odd answer, but there was a tacit acknowledgment that the inconsistency seems weird. I'm reading this as a likely yes for an Android app, but there's really no way to tell when it'll come out.

5:12: And another, is there any desktop client software? No—it'll mount via microUSB, and show up as mass storage. Book transfers are intended to be wireless. USB's there for music and photo transfers, as well as charging.

5:13: They're strangely happy to say they're developing a Windows Mobile app—"we are," they say—so why so coy about Android?

5:18: Everyone's left the stage, and they're playing GO AWAY music again, so that's it. OR IS IT? (It is.)

The free show starts now, at 9PM PST (midnight EST), and can be found either here or here. It'll be broadcast with Apple's own HTTP streaming protocol, which is designed to be able to handle the crush of tons of viewers all at once. It's a pretty exciting development and we'll definitely check in for a minute to see how well the whole process works. [First Streaming Site, Second Streaming Site via New Teevee]

Not every game, but it is a mix of third-party stuff: Sonic, call of Duty 2, Crackdown, Bioshock Mass Effect and more. Dodged whether games will be downloadable the day they're released to retail. Also don't expect to use your credit card direct for anything now: "We're not getting rid of the point system." Booo.

Still, the disc's time is clearly ticking.

The Facebook client looks pretty similar to the typical Xbox Experience interface, with individual sidescrolling windows that might actually be a little tedious to trawl through. It'll also support Facebook Connect, which will let you upload, for example, in-game screenshots to your Facebook profile in real-time.

Xbox Live will also get Twitter, though we don't know much about it yet—looks like it's presented in one big feed, unlike Facebook, which is great. We'll keep you updated as we learn more. And for more ongoing info, head over to our liveblog.

Everything seems to be going ok right now, although they are having some problems with one of their cameras.

Mission STS-125—which will service and upgrade the space telescope Hubble for the last time—is scheduled to launch today at 2:01 PM.

It seems that everything is going according to schedule. If you have time, watch it live, as they have an astronaut explaining the incredible complexities and checks they have to go through before launching, as well as other details about how the shuttle works. Not to talk about all those awesome voices in mission control saying all kinds of cool phrases like "All systems nominal" and "We hear you loud and clear!"

Seriously, I never get tired of watching this.

Enjoy the show. [NASA]

Playing live is what we love. This album is a thank you to our fans - the people who give us a reason to do it and make it happen.

However, instead of adopting Nine Inch Nails' position on free music, Coldplay is saying that they are doing this as a thank you to fans in this time of economic recession. I'm not going to argue with their reasons. It's free and I like Chris Martin. Although not in the way Jason Chen likes Chris Martin. OK, maybe a little.

Check the band's tour dates at their web site, and go there on May 15 to get the album. [Coldplay]

Apparently, someone spammed swarms of Xbox Live users, offering a 2-year-old girl for sale with the simple pitch, "selling a child, will pay for shipping." The spammer also included Manos' phone number in the message.

Many of these Live subscribers subsequently called Manos to give her a piece of their mind. There was no mention if any offers were made, but on the bright side, Manos has "a good idea who is responsible." And we're guessing she wasn't referring to herself. [Charlotte Sun via Kotaku]

And incidentally, this awesome post art is compliments of Luke Plunkett from Kotaku.

First, the vital info. The actual swearing in ceremony takes place at 11:30am EST and will go for about two hours.. There are lots more options listed on Lifehacker, but these are the ones that are probably most worthy of your time.

Live Streaming Feeds
If you don't have access to a TV, but don't have to worry about the corporate gestapo monitoring your every web movement, live streams of the inauguration are probably the way to go—and they're plentiful. From the sounds of it, there are two good choices:

• Live Senate Feed: The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies' stream is about as official as it gets, with not only the live inauguration available, but also clips to past inaugurations and an overload of supplementary content on anything tangentially related to the event.

• CNN/Facebook: There was nothing more quality/entertaining/ridiculous than CNN's coverage of live events during the 2008 Presidential Campaign (pundit debate scorecards, holographic projections, Toobs!) and from the sounds of it, the CNN/Facebook live inauguration feed will be no different. You log into Facebook direct from CNN's live site, watch the inauguration, and watch your friends' status updates in real-time.

• There's also Hulu, but they're streaming the network which shall not be named.

Non-video Web 2.0 Updates
• InaugurationReport.com: If you can't get away with video at your desk, but can hide some text/photo updates behind a tab, you might want to consider InaugurationReport.com, which takes all the citizen generated content from Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and SMS, then aggregates it all on one page. It's your one stop shop for quick desk updates.

Mobile Web
If you do suffer the misfortune of being under heavy surveillance, then your only option left is to consider a new job grab your iPhone/G1, fake a lengthy trip to the bathroom, and use one of these services from the comfort of your stall:

• Ustream on iPhone: Ustream promises to stream the inauguration to your iPhone using their fancy new app...IF it manages to get approved by Apple before tomorrow. And considering that's a big if, I wouldn't place all your inauguration viewing hopes and dreams behind this.

• Inauguration Report on iPhone and Android: Inauguration Report also has free iPhone and Android apps where you can not only take in all the same content as the desktop client, but you can also provide live updates if you have any. However, seeing as you've resorted to hiding in a bathroom stall, I doubt you'll have any.

And as I've already mentioned, you can get the whole laundry list of online Inauguration offerings over on [Lifehacker].

The Xbox 360's lack of Wi-Fi is a totally killer hardware flaw—if you're not right on top of your router, you've either gotta string miles of ethernet cable or buy that pricey ass dongle from Microsoft. Unless you check out one of the cheaper alternatives. Here's every major way to get your Xbox going on Wi-Fi, sorted by easiest to hardest (but most satisfying).

Donglage
Dongles are, by far, the easiest way to get your Xbox 360 on a wireless network. But they also tend to be the priciest.

• Microsoft's official wireless adapter is $87, which is absolute horseshit for a Wi-Fi antenna attached to a USB cable. But it looks the nicest and is super easy to use—just plug and play. Update: This weekend you can get one for $69.

• The next stop is a third-party wireless adapter, where you've got your pick from Linksys ($65), Belkin ($70) and hey, Linksys ($90, but it's 802.11n). Same deal, plug and play.

• Finally, your cheapest option is from...Microsoft. Turns out, a regular Xbox wireless adapter (which is a supercheap $50), works just fine, with a tiny bit of finagling: Don't put in its actual install CD. Just plug it in, and set your encryption. It might take two tries to get it to work, but it will. And, it won't eat up a USB port like the official Xbox 360 one. Spoiler alert: This is our pick for best option, based on its combo of cheapness and convenience, if you can find one.

Share Your Computer's Connection
Sharing your computer's connection is the cheapest option—it's actually the freest one. It'll work with a laptop or desktop, though a laptop is more truly wireless—the desktop bit is an option if your router's just a step too far out of the way. Basically, you're plugging your Xbox into the computer's ethernet port, and then having it use your computer's wireless connection to connect to the internet.

Windows
It's actually harder to reliably share the internet love on Windows with its cousin, the Xbox 360, than it is on a Mac: No method worked reliably for us across multiple Windows computers. But here's how it should work:

1. Share your computer's wireless connection. Microsoft actually details the process here, and it's pretty easy. From the Network and Sharing center, click on the manage network connections option on the left. From there, right click on the connect you wanna share (probably wireless, unless you're daisy-chaining 'cause your box just won't reach) and hit properties. Under the sharing tab, just check the box to allow that connection to be shared. Plug your Xbox into the ethernet port.

2. There are a few other ways to proceed at this point, and you're probably going to have try at least a couple of them to find one that'll work. You could bridge the two connections (dicey), or you could manually assign the ethernet port an IP address, detailed here (PDF). This Instructable relies on automagicalness to resolve the settings, and I have had that work in the past, though not when I was sorting through methods for this how to.

All in all, expect to do some Googling and troubleshooting if you go the Windows route.

Mac
You'd think this would be easy, 'cause I heard somewhere that Macs just work, and internet sharing on Macs typically ain't hard, but there is a tiny bit of jujitsu involved here. This method, from Joystiq, is the most reliable one I used.

1. On your Mac, pop open Terminal, and type "ifconfig en0" (number zero, no quotes). A whole bunch of crap will pop up. Find where it says "inet 192.xxx.x.xxx" (it should be 192, anyway). Write that junk down. It will probably be 192.168.2.1, like mine. Also find out your router's IP address, which is most likely 192.168.1.1 (Linksys) or 192.168.0.1 (D-Link uses this), depending on your manufacturer. If you have Apple's Airport gear, the router will be at 10.0.1.1.

2. Then plug your Xbox 360 into your Mac, open up Sharing in Preferences. Turn on internet sharing, and share your Airport's internet connection with ethernet.

3. On the Xbox, flip to your network settings (under system settings), and enter the IP address you got from the terminal freaky deaky earlier but + 1, like 192.168.2.2 to my original 192.168.2.1. Subnet should be 255.255.255.0, and then set your gateway as the ifconfig number, 192.168.2.1. Under DNS (back one screen, then down), put in your router's actual address for both. Test your Xbox Live connection. Your NAT might suck, but you can get on Xbox Live.

Hack Your Router
This method is the least straightforward, and requires a little bit of work on your part. Essentially, you're buying a second router (a cheap one, for about $40) and installing custom software on it that turns it into a giant wireless antenna that's hooked up to your Xbox 360.

There are tons of Linux custom firmwares for routers nowadays, with DD-WRT and Tomato being the most popular. Tomato is a bit more user friendly, but it works with far fewer routers than DD-WRT. DD-WRT works with dozens of different routers (click for the list).

Whichever firmware you go with, the method for putting on your router will vary from device to device, with Buffalo routers being a notorious pain in the ass. Tomato includes instructions with the firmware download—but here are some of the details, and Lifehacker's complete guide to installing and using Tomato.

DD-WRT is my preferred firmware. Here are the detailed install instructions, but with most Linksys routers, you can just drill into the router settings from the web address (192.168.1.1) and upload the DD-WRT firmware, directly, making it pretty easy. But some routers require different, exceptionally specific install methods. So check out the list before you run out to Best Buy or Circuit City.

My preferred router for this because of its tininess and cheapness (under $40), was the Buffalo G-125, which required you to flash it over TFTP backdoor the DD-WRT firmware onto it during a brief window of time, like Luke dropping those bombs into the Death Star's vent shaft. It's a pain in the ass, but everything else about the Buffalo routers make it worth it. Unfortunately, you can't buy it in the States until the next month or so, so your cheapest bet is is Linksys's $40ish WRT54G, which unfortunately, has different install methods depending on the revision. The DD-WRT wiki is very good, so you shouldn't run into problems following it.

Once you get either firmware installed, you're going to set your hacked router up as a wireless client.

1. You're going to need to go into the hacked router's settings. Set the hacked router to client mode.

2. These numbers are going to vary slightly based on your router, but you need to assign it an IP address—if your main router's IP address is 192.168.0.1, set your hacked router at 192.168.0.2 or 192.168.0.101 (a number that's in your main router's DHCP server range). Then make the gateway and DNS the same IP address as your main router.

3. When it reboots you're gonna have to re-login to whatever IP address your hacked router is. Do that, go back in, and give the hacked router the same SSID (name) as your main router (Linksys, gizrox, whatever you have it named). You can also configure wireless security at this point, though for me, it's always been kind of flaky, WEP in particular, so you might have to play around to see what works.

4. To test, try to get online using the hacked router as your internet connection, with all of your computer's IP settings left on automatic. If it works, plug the hacked router into your Xbox. If not, check out the DD-WRT wiki for more halpz.

4. On your Xbox, you can leave everything set to automatic—the hacked router does all the work.

The hacked router method might take the longest, but at least you won't have a useless dongle when the Xbox 720 comes out, you'll have a full-featured router, and it's cheaper than the official dongle. Plus you'll have a feeling of accomplishment that will carry over to gaming, so you should kill a lot more people in Call of Duty.

As David discovered, it turns out that you can't register any name with the word "tib" on them, not just Tibet. Microsoft gave him an explanation for this: they wanted to protect customers of the TIB Bank in Florida, so they can't receive a message from "tib-support@hotmail.com" asking for their bank account passwords. As he was able to test, if you try to use any other bank name in the address, it won't work. Mystery solved! [NYT]

1:06 AM - One opportunistic young gentleman named Henry is selling his 7th place spot in line ... for a cool $150.

1:10 AM - People are dropping like flies. A couple just left when they found out they'd have to sign up for contracts.

1:35 - Surprisingly, there aren't many people who waited here for a phone last year. However, I did find Matt, who waited last year in Richmond, VA. He's in town on business but got so caught up when he walked by the line he decided to hop in. He conveniently broke his original iPhone last week in a "Brazilian party accident", and he's pretty excited to get a new one.

1:58 - I asked some people what apps they were most excited about, and I got the same answer over and over: Super Monkey Ball. Other than that, people are looking forward to Remote, AIM, Facebook, and Whrrl.

2:25 - PACKER! He's here, but not for the iPhone. He's planning on sleeping in the park tomorrow to get Bon Jovi tickets. He says he won't be the first in line, but he'll be close. Special thanks to my new best friend Henry for coming to tell me he's here.

4:15 - News crews are starting to show up, so you know it's getting serious. I've seen trucks from CW, ABC, Good Day New York, along with reporters from the Wall Street Journal and DVICE.

4:20 - Update: Packer is asleep like a little baby.

4:45 - Sleepiness is setting in for me too, but I have a whole slew of energy drinks to get me through the final push. So far I've had an açai banana-mango concoction that was awful going down but had a delicious aftertaste, and a Venom Mojave Rattler that smelled like Robotussin and tasted like battery acid. I still haven't tried Stamina-RX, whose can promises "Extreme Sexual Experience".

5:30 - The line has stretched all the way down 59th St. to Madison Ave.
5:40 - The sun is starting to rise over NYC, people are getting excited.

6:20 - Everyone is getting interviewed about the iPhone 3G by radio stations, TV stations, and newspapers. What's left to say? We want our phones!
6:45 - People are getting antsy, they keep moving around to stay awake and excited. This last hour and change is going to be a challenge.

6:50 - The line is moving, people are walking in! Will updated ASAP.

6:55 - Phew! Almost lost my spot in line, but here it is, the final few feet until they open the doors and let all of us here loose on the Cube and the prize we've had our eyes on for hours.

7:50 - Frucci's all the way down the block and he told me that the line is firmly wrapped around Madison Ave. again.
7:55 - A bunch of people in orange iPhone 3G shirts just stepped outside, and the crowd started cheering.

8:00 - One of those hippies who's been waiting a week to (allegedly) buy a phone got in trouble for something and now it looks like he can't come in.
8:05 - The doors are open and people are going in! I'll be back with more after I buy mine to let you know how it goes.

8:07 - Just got down here and there are at least 100 Apple employees cheering everyone on. It's nuts!

8:15 - Buying my phone, I'm thisclose to tearing the box open right now.
8:27 - Mission accomplished!
8:28 - The SIM ejector tool is a lot fancier than I expected.

Lifted from Vwag:

•Office-productivity software that can be had for $119 at Amazon.com, but is likely already installed on a user's computer.

•A "collaboration" service most home users will have no need for

•Windows Live OneCare, a PC-security and maintenance service which Microsoft already sells as a subscription

•Three Web services Microsoft already offers for free

It took 32 days, but Microsoft eventually solved the problem by re-licensing the old content to the user's new Xbox 360 serial number. However, keep this in mind—he did get the usual runaround until specifically asking support for the points to re-download his content. It was only then that he was offered the re-licensing option. Personally, I think it is a lot of bs to go through (you shouldn't have to wait 32 days for anything) but it did work—and that is a step in a positive direction. [Consumerist Photo via Milkham]

7:39 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Gizmodo Live at Macworld 2008 Keynote. The keynote starts Tuesday, January 15 @ 9:00 AM PST (12:00 PM EST), but we're going to start liveblogging hours before that, giving you color commentary on the area, the attendees, and any secrets we can glean from uncovered banners.

7:59 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen:
We're here! It's dreary as hell (even for San Francisco standards), but we're here, in line, waiting for the keynote to start. There's definitely something in the air, but to us it smells like the pungent desperation of various media types who were forced to wake up at way too early.

8:02 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Crazy. Instead of a Pikmin-like blob of people massed outside the giant aluminum shutters, we've actually got an orderly line.

8:04 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen:
And here's it is. $5 if you can spot Mossy/Waldo.

8:15 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen:

And since there's no comment field here in the liveblog proper, feel free to discuss the upcoming proceedings over on the other liveblog post.

8:17 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: We see all our normal friends here: Wired, Ars...I guess that's all the people I know. OH, Macrumors. Can't forget them.

8:25 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen:
Someone's excited about what Steve's going to announce today.

8:36 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Top 3 guesses on what's going to be announced today. My guess: new laptop, Apple TV media news and Apple buying out Diebold and leading the way to electronic voting we can trust. Put your guess in the comments.

8:44 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen:
There's Something in the Air Update 1: The orderly line has dissolved into a scene outside Britney's first car-cooter-exposure: everyone's in a mob, pushing each other around with cameras, randomly shooting a shot off hoping to get something worth publishing. What's in the air? Sweat. And greed. And more than a little desperation.

8:46 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Lightning Review. The Gadget: The food.
The Verdict: The orange juice dispensed from a water cooler is classy, but the blueberry scones put it over the top. Definitely worth the money ($0) we paid.

8:59 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Update 2: Mark here, we are trading off the duties of "laptop bitch," making one another hold the computer so we don't need to risk life, limb and foul-smelling crotch on the floor to bring you these updates.

9:03 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: We're in! We've done this many times now, so we can safely say that Coldplay is the band Apple designates as the official soundtrack to the "running of the media" every single time.

9:03 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:05 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: It's 9:02, people are still filing in, so it's going to be a minute or two before the keynote gets started. Can you taste it? CAN YOU SMELL IT!?

9:08 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Steve's added a new song to his playlist this year. Kanye. No one can say Steve Jobs doesn't care about black iPods.

9:13 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Here's a question for you: do you like the Macworld keynote during CES like last year, or after CES like this year?

9:13 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Still no Steve, but Feist's 1 2 3 4 is on. And the lights are dimming! Exciting!

9:14 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Steve's most likely waiting for Feist to end. Nobody cuts off Feist...bitch.

9:15 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: It's starting! A new Mac vs. PC commercial: Happy New Year 2008. And Steve Jobs takes the stage.

9:15 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: "Welcome to Macworld 2008. We've got some great stuff for you. There's clearly some great stuff in the air today."

9:15 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:16 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Steve's taking us on a retrospective of 2007. iPhone, iPod, etc. He's thanking everyone for an extraordinary 2007.

9:17 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:17 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: He has four things he wants to talk to us about today. The first is Leopard. Over 5 million copies sold, and about 20% of Mac OS X's install base has upgraded to Leopard. Now Steve's quoting Mossberg, Pogue, Ed Baig and PC Magazine for quotes on Leopard. Two thumbs up, as it were.

9:17 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:20 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:20 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Time Machine: Leopard works great with a desktop machine, but it doesn't work well with laptops because you have to keep plugging and unplugging a USB drive. Now he's introducing a new backup station with 802.11n and server-grade backup station. It's an AirPort Extreme station with ports in the back, allowing you to back up your macs wirelessly to Time Capsule.

9:21 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:22 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:23 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Time Capsule will be sold in a 500GB version and a 1TB version for $299 and $499. It ships February. It also looks exactly like an Airport Extreme, except with different ports on the back.

9:23 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: And that's the first thing! The second thing: The iPhone. Today is exactly the 200th day that the iPhone has been on sale. Apple has sold 4 million iPhones to date, which means 20,000 iPhones sold per day on average. What does this mean compared to the overall smartphone market?

9:26 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:27 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:27 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam: Jobs: Joo! (Boom substitute),

9:27 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: And today, he's introducing new iPhone features:
Maps with locations, webclips, customizable home screens, SMS multiple people at once, chapters, subtitles, and language support in video, and lyrics support in audio.

9:30 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Here are the numbers for the iPhone's first full quarter of shipping (Q3 2007). RIM has 39%, Apple has 19.5%, Palm has 9.8%, Motorola has 7.4%. In just one quarter, they managed to grab second place.

9:31 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:31 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:31 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Webclips: On the iPhone's Safari browser, just pick out a website, hit the "+" button, and hit "Add to home screen", and it'll be added as an icon on your home screen. Hit the button from the home screen and it'll fire up Safari and take you there. You can even customize the shortcut to a specific part of the web page.

9:33 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Rearranging icons: Hold down an icon and all the icons on the screen jitter (the leak was right!), allowing you to drag stuff around to rearrange. You can now have 9 different screens to hold all your apps or webclips (internet shortcuts).

9:34 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:35 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: All these updates are available today, for free, for all iPhone users.

9:35 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: So how do you get locations without GPS? Apple's partnering with Google and Skyhook. Google helps you triangulate cellphone towers, and Skyhook helps you triangulate Wi-Fi data. When you go past a Wi-fi hotspot or a cell tower, the phone remembers the data and uses it to calculate where you are.

9:36 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:36 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: How about the iPod touch? They're adding Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes and Weather. For existing iPod touch users, it will cost $20. If you buy a new iPod touch, it'll be free and built-in.

9:37 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Multiple recipient SMS: Just as you'd expect. Pick different recipients at the top, type stuff, hit send. It's also customized for the iPhone's "conversations" because it remembers all the recipients under that one "conversation", so you can send multiple messages to the same people easily.

9:38 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: The third thing Steve's talking about today: iTunes. They've sold 4 billion songs, 125 million TV shows and 7 million movies. TV shows and movies have sold more than "everyone else put together", but "did not meet our expectations". "There's a better way to deliver movies over the internet." What is it? iTunes Movie Rentals.

9:38 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Here are the studios involved: Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, New Line, Lion's gate, Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony. What's missing?

9:39 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Steve says "We have every major studio", and that they'll have all the great first-run films.

9:40 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:41 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:41 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: 1000 films by February, and movies will be available 30 days after the DVD release. You can watch them anywhere: Macs, PCs, iPods and iPhone. You can watch instantly, meaning streaming. You'll have 30 days to "start" watching it, and then 24 hours to "finish" watching it once you've started to watch it. You can watch the first half on your computer, transfer the movie to your iPod, then watch the rest of the movie on the airplane. Here's the cost.

B. Lam:

9:43 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Old releases: $2.99. New releases: $3.99.

9:43 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:43 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: iTunes movie rentals launches today, and it's a free software update for iTunes. Free update for iPods and iPhones in order to support this. Support for the US comes today, but international support comes later this year.

9:44 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:44 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:44 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:45 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:46 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: But how about the AppleTV? It was designed to be an accessory for iTunes, but people wanted it to be "movies, movies, movies". Here's AppleTV, take 2. It still syncs with your computer, but no computer is required for AppleTV. You can rent movies directly onto your AppleTV and watch them on your HDTV. You can rent in either SD quality or HD Quality with 5.1 surround sound.

9:46 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:46 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: You can also view audio and video podcasts on the AppleTV, photos from Flickr or .Mac, YouTube videos (>50 Million), Buy TV shows and music (which will be streamed back to your computer), or play iTunes content & photos streamed from your computer.

9:46 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: HD Rentals pricing: $3.99 for old titles and $4.99 for new titles. $1 more than SD.

9:47 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:48 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: There's a new interface for AppleTV (picture coming in a sec). The UI is centered around the movie rental experience.

9:48 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: HD Rentals pricing: $3.99 for old titles and $4.99 for new titles. $1 more than SD.

9:49 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:50 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Steve's demo-ing a sample movie, Blades of Glory. Once you've queued up enough of the movie, AppleTV will pop up a message saying that it's ready to play. He says it usually takes about 30 seconds before something's ready to play.

9:51 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:51 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: He's now showing a scene from Die Hard, featuring Justin Long (the Mac guy).

9:51 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Damn, they cut it off right before Justin Long came in!

9:52 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:54 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:54 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:55 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Now Steve is demoing podcasts and music video downloading. Podcasts queue up and stream just like you'd expect, and music videos work the same way they do on iTunes on your PC.

9:55 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Fake Steve is also liveblogging this AS REAL STEVE, which may or may not blow your mind. Check it out.

9:56 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

9:56 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Slideshows stream directly off the .Mac servers, which means you may be able to view your friends' pictures directly on your TV.

9:58 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

B. Lam:

9:59 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Flickr: You can view a friend's pictures, or even their friends' photos. Of course, this is all set to music from your own iTunes library. Uh oh, tech demo problem alert! No photos, just music. The screen is blank (because of flickr). WE SWEAR IT'S NOT US.

9:59 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam: Boom count: 1

10:00 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:00 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:01 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Apple TV: The new software will be available via free software upgrade, which means you don't need to purchase a new box. Nice!

10:01 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:03 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: New pricing as well. It's $299 now, but they're kicking it down to $229 starting today. They're shipping the free software update to existing owners and new units in just 2 weeks. (Polite applause follows.)

10:06 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: "The first studio that signed up with us for iTunes movie rentals was 20th Century Fox". Now, he's introducing Jim Gianopulos, the Chairman & CEO of Fox. Jim's taking the stage and talking about movies and business.

10:06 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:07 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Non-Steve Jobs intermission, essentially. Jim, the Fox CEO is talking about formats, and business models, and giving people choices. "The next format will be Blu-ray, apparently."

10:08 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: We were right! Jim says his movies will have a free iTunes version of the movie residing on the DVD that you can transfer onto your portable devices by copying it over. The first movie that has this: Family Guy's Blue Harvest, their Star Wars parody episode.

10:08 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: And now the fourth thing they want to talk about today. "There's something in the air. What is it?" MacBooks, apparently!

10:08 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:09 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Today they're introducing a third kind of notebook, MacBook Air. "It's the world's thinnest notebook."

10:10 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:10 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: What does this mean? The Sony TZ series are thin. "We looked at all of them out there. They generally weigh about 3 pounds." In Sony's case, it weighs 3 pounds, 0.8-1.2 inches thick, and a 11-12 inch display. They also have miniature keyboards, and they don't "run them as fast as they could."

10:11 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:11 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:12 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Thinness: MacBook air goes from 0.76 inches down to 0.16 inches at the thin end. The thickest part is thinner than the Sony TZ Series. 0.76 vs. 0.8. It's so thin, it even fits inside a vanilla envelope. Steve whips out a manilla envelope.

10:14 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:14 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Out comes the MacBook Air. It's silver (aluminum?), has black keys, is super super thin, and Steve can hold it easily with his fingertips. "It's the world's thinnest notebook," he reiterates. It has a 13.3-inch widescreen display. "And the display is gorgeous." It's an LED backlit display that's instant-on. It also has a built-in iSight camera, and a full-sized keyboard. Backlit too, with a trackpad and multi-touch gesture support on the trackpad.

10:15 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:15 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:15 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: You can turn on different types of gestures in the settings, like moving around a window with your finger, panning around a photo with two fingers, rotate a photo by twisting a finger, swipe between photos with three figners, and zoom in and out with pinching.

10:16 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: "How did we fit a Mac in here?"

10:17 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Here's what's inside. 1.8-inch hard drives, like in the iPods. There's also an optional 64GB solid state disk. What else is in there? A complete Mac board, which is a little wider than the length of a pencil.

10:18 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:18 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:19 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Here's the CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Inside, 1.6 GHz standard, with a 1.8GHz upgrade available. Apple asked Intel to shrink their Core 2 Duo processors down to a package 60% smaller in order to fit it inside the MacBook Air. And here's Intel's CEO Paul Otellini to talk about it.

10:19 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:21 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Paul says: The CPU is the width of a dime, the thickness of a nickel, and we didn't think we could do it.

10:21 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: The other features: flip-down door that has USB 2, microDVI port, and a headphone jack. The other side is a MagSafe connector. As for wireless, it's got 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. It doesn't have an optical drive internal, but you can buy a separate USB-powered SuperDrive that's especially made for the MacBook Air. $99.

10:22 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:22 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: What do you do with an optical drive? Play movies, install software, make backups, burn CDs. What's Apple's alternative? iTunes movie rentals, Time Capsule for backups, iPods for listening to stuff in your car, and a new feature called "Remote Disc" for installing stuff via CDs and DVDs.

10:22 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:23 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Remote Disc: Special software loaded on other machines with optical drives that allows MacBook Air to borrow their drives to install things from CDs/DVDs. You can even borrow drives from PCs.

10:23 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:25 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Battery life: With Wi-Fi on, browsing the web, you get 5 hours of battery life.

10:25 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:26 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: MacBook Air Price: $1799. Ships in two weeks. You can pre-order online now.

10:26 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:27 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: So to recap, here are the features. 3.0 pounds, 0.16 -0.76 inches, 13.inch display, full-sized keyboard, multi-touch gestures, iSight, 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo standard, 2GB memory standard, 80GB hard drive standard (64GB SSD optional), 802.11n Wi-Fi standard, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR standard, and MagSafe.

10:27 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Steve just threw up a new ad showing off the MacBook Air, using the same MANILLA envelope technique he used earlier.

10:28 am ON Jan 15 2008
B. Lam:

10:30 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: And here are the details on the MacBook Air that eco-fanatics care about. It's got an Aluminum case, and a mercury-free and arsenic-free glass display. The circuit boards are BFR free and PVC free. The packaging has 56% less volume than the regular MacBook. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!

10:30 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: To recap on what he's talked about today. 1) Time Capsule, the wireless backup utility. 2) iPhone update and iPod Touch update. 3) AppleTV + iTunes movie rentals. 4) MacBook Air.

"All this stuff in the first two weeks, and we've got 50 more weeks in the year to go."

10:32 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: And for the entertainment at Today's keynote, Randy Newman.

10:36 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Randy's singing a song about America, the president, and comparing them to Hitler and Stalin. USA! USA! USA!!!!!

10:39 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: "It pisses me off a little that the Supreme Court is going to outlive me." What the crap is he singing about? We have no idea. We think he's gone nuts.

10:41 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: The first song's over, but now Randy Newman's just riffing about random stuff. The next song is from Toy Story. Randy says he wrote another song to go with the love scene between Buzz and Woody, but the scene was cut. This guy is blowing our minds right now.

10:43 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Aaaand it's over. Holy crap. Who knew Randy Newman, the guy who makes the songs your kids play over and over and over again, would sing such crazy crap about our government?

11:31 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: And it's over! Thanks to everyone for reading, and check Gizmodo's main page for hands-on updates VERY soon. See everyone shortly. -Jason, Mark, Brian and Adrian

11:32 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: We've got hands-on of the MacBook Air here.

11:32 am ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: We've got hands-on of Time Capsule here as well.

1:26 pm ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: Here's hands-on of the gesture pad on the MacBook Air.

1:30 pm ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: And our AppleTV take two impressions.

1:30 pm ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: We also discovered the MacBook Air's fatal flaw.

1:33 pm ON Jan 15 2008
Jason Chen: And our hands-on video and impressions of the iPhone 1.1.3 firmware.

[Apple]

As much camera as phone.

Moving on to the Rokr E8.(This leaked a few weeks back.) Moto has been trying to get the music phone right for a long time now. This one has a no-button surface, touch activated it lights up. When you listen to music, the phone keys automatically disappear and the music player buttons show. When you switch to camera mode, the buttons for the camera appear on the front of the handset. Morphing technology on a single glass-like surface.

But people like to know when they've pressed the keys. So they added a haptic touchpad that gives tactile feedback. it also has a scroll wheel like function.

Motorola's audio engineers developed a new algorithm for in-ear music listening. The innovation here is that while most in-ear headphones make it sound as though the music is vibrating from inside your head, now it sounds like the music from the in-ear headphones are coming from outside your ears.

Motorola is acquiring SoundBuzz, a provider of wireless ota music downloads and buying in southeast asia.

Specific details on the deal are coming in a few weeks, though fingers crossed we'll have some choice in the game that'll occupy space on our hard drives, 'cause a lot of the games are crap I'd never play, and getting one of those would weirdly annoy me more than just receiving a nicely worded apology. Which, coincidentally, is reproduced below. [Major Nelson]

Dear Xbox LIVE Members:

During this past holiday season you helped us break a number of Xbox LIVE records. This included our largest sign-up of new members to Xbox LIVE in our 5 year history and just yesterday you broke the record for the single biggest day of concurrent members ever on the service.

While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance. I would like to take this moment to thank you each and every one of you for your patience and understanding as our team has worked around the clock to return the service to a stable state.

At the same time we would like to offer a token of our appreciation to all of you in celebration of record success for the service. And as a thank you for your loyalty during this holiday period, we will be offering all of our Xbox LIVE members around the world access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game that will be available to download free of charge. In the coming weeks we will be sharing the specific details of this offer with you.

Thank you again for helping make Xbox LIVE everything that it is today!

Sincerely,
Marc Whitten
General Manager, Xbox LIVE
Gamertag: Notwen

The videos are sure to get your pulse slowing down in no time, but the comments the Microsoft haters have scrawled about the place shall give you all a mighty chuckle. The image above has some of the classics we found, but we are quite certain you guys are going to want to have your say. Microsoft fanboys and fangirls, take heed; this is your hour of worth—deflect the slander that taints Microsoft's YouTube channel thus...or join in, whichever makes you happiest. As long as you're happy, that's all that matter to us. [Microsoft YouTube Channel via TechCrunch]

It is all pretty fresh so yourname@live.com may still be available, unless your name is Haroon and you opt for an @live.co.uk domain, instead. Get your dirty mitts on a new account while the good ones are still going. Wow, I got through a whole Windows post without a snide comment... Windows Live desktop package kinda sucks. I feel better. [Windows Live Desktop Package, Windows Live Hotmail via Inquirer]

A simple tool that lets you manage how much time your kids spend on their Xbox 360. Manage in daily or weekly increments. Easy for parents to suspend and add time. Available in December 2007 only through Xbox Live.

The requisite photo of the pamphlet is obligatorily blurry, but with all of the other chatter floating around, even if this is faked, we feel pretty safe betting on the new feature's upcoming launch, particularly given the Xbox 360's new family-focused marketing, like with the Arcade. [Xbox Today via Kotaku, Flickr]