With the introduction of the 60GB Pro console in July, we have research that suggests it is very important to have a 60GB stand alone Hard Drive to go along with it to allow the consumer a full range of choices and values. In late October/early November (exact date TBD but most likely last week in October or 1st week in November), we will ship the Xbox 360 60GB Hard Drive, tentatively called the “Xbox 360 60GB LIVE Starter Pack”. This will be an excellent value price at and ERP of $99.99 with an 18% retail margin that contains:

· 60GB Hard Drive

· 3 Months of Xbox Live

· Xbox 360 Wired Headset

· Xbox 360 Ethernet Cable (same one that is included with Pro and Elite)

Positioning: For Xbox 360 Arcade and Core console owners, the Xbox 360 60GB Live Starter Pack offers all of the components to get onto Xbox LIVE and jump in to on line multiplayer gaming and Marketplace content downloads at an incredible value.

With the end of life of the 20GB Hard Drive and the price drop of the 120GB Hard Drive to $149.99 in September, this new 60GB hard drive will fit very well into our “Choice and Value” pillar and will fit nicely into our accessory line up. Exact SKU/UPC/Set up info will come soon and once we nail down the exact MSD, I will let you all know immediately.

[Xbox Family via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Is anyone filled with excitement, their Treo 700 series rattling in their trembling hands? [wmpoweruser] Thanks tipsters!

That 5-megapixel camera is confirmed by these photos, and it looks like there's the word "autofocus" on the bezel too. And that 3.5-inch touchscreen is supposedly a WQVGA resolution display, at 240x400 pixels. The phone is quad-band, 3G and HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps, with wi-fi, FM radio functionality and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR. There's 16GB on-board memory, it'll run Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and there's a microSD slot for expansion.

The phone will apparently also have integrated GPS, a TV-out port and will measure 4.4 x 2.2 x 0.5 inches. There's no official word from Samsung about this cellphone yet, so the release date and price remain a mystery. [Navigadget]

The size is also new with the N96 being slightly longer and wider but .07 of an inch thinner than the N95. A release date is obviously still unknown and since these specs are on the German Nokia site they could change when the N96 finally hits the states. [Nokia via IntoMobile]

As we mentioned before, CNet affirms that the OS should be open-source and Linux based, but we shouldn't expect to see it in stores soon. The number of companies involved (over 30) will make it difficult to move quickly on this. I'm just glad that this thing is moving out from the shadowy depths of rumorville. [Cnet via Gadget Lab]

1.4 128 160 px 65K Color OLED display
Measures 90 48.6 16.4 mm
Weighs 87.5 grams
GSM850/900/1800/1900, GPRS/EDGE
2 megapixel camera (no autofocus, no flash)
1.8 QVGA 240 320 px 262K color internal display
MicroSD memory card slot
MP3 player
USB and Bluetooth stereo connectivity
Touch-sensitive keys.
But hey, I'm just a disgruntled Motorola user, so what do I know? [PC Pop via Unwired View]

As we noted before, there's two cables going into that iPhone connector, though we're not sure what they're for. But it's good that the Bluetooth slot for Bluetooth headset charging is there so we won't need multiple chargers.

Three iPhones to Play With [9to5mac]

Thanks tipster!

UPDATE: These have come on down, per Apple's request.

–Travis Hudson

[Via BabyGotMac]

UPDATE: Apple claims that the images are their property, so they've come on down. But only because they were so damn sweet about it.

–Travis Hudson

[via Baby Got Mac. Thanks, Scott.]

Let's just say I have been informed by a little reliable birdy about Tommorow's event. The line-up will follow this similar structure:

Welcoming of Media Members
Discussion on iTunes software, iTMS integration into iTunes, and iTMS
sales and facts.
Announcement of iTunes version 7.0
Announces better search feature for Music Store
Announces Movie Store. Available Immediately will be movies from
Disney and Pixar, among other studios.
New iPod Nano Announcement (nice brushed casing, while it will have
same features as first gen, only a longer battery life)

New iPod Announcement (Widescreen, Bluetooth, and featuring virtual
touchwheel. Does not include Wi-Fi, or any other protocols)
One More Thing....

Whether you believe it or not, jump to read the rest...

TubePort. A $99 2-piece set that includes a dongle that connects via USB to your mac, and another dongle that connects via included HD cables or regular Component cables to your TV. The movie is accessed on your Mac via an iDisk-like storage component hosted by Apple.

Jobs will then explain the pricing structure of the Movie Store.
Movies wil be available as either a smaller iPod-format (which will
cost $9.99 per movie), or as a larger, streamed movie to be streamed
to your TV via TubePort. This cost $14.99 per movie. To purchase an
iPod-formatted movie and a streamed version of the same movie, it will
cost you $19.99.

iTunes movies? Nano? Tubeport? Video iPod? If this isn't a fark, then we were right about our guesses, and this anon tipster is our very own Saint Gizmodo. And we'll just skip liveblogging the rest of the keynote. If this is all a lie, then we'll post their email for you all to savage. Who knows at this point.–Brian Lam

From the pictures, you can plainly see the new model will be called the Nikon D80, not the D90 as some speculated. There are a few extra buttons on the camera, such as a physical self timer, IR remote button, an autofocus button, and it looks like the D80 uses SD flash memory cards instead of the CompactFlash cards used on its predecessor.

Even with these new pictures staring us in the face, there's still mystery associated with this model. And that's probably just the way to Nikon wants it. Guess we'll have to wait 13 more days. – Charlie White

Photime.net [via Hip Tech Blog]

Email attributed by tipster to "friend at the EPA" after the jump.

This is from a friend at the EPA:

We're naming it Lake George, 'cause it's his frickin fault. Have you seen all that data about the levee projects' funding being cut over the past three years by the Prez, and the funding transferred to Iraq?
The levee, as designed, might not have held back the surge from a direct Class 5 hit, but it certainly would not have crumbled on Monday night from saturation and scour erosion following a glancing blow from a Class 3. The failure was in a spot that had just been rebuilt, not yet compacted, not planted, and not armed (hardened with rock/concrete). The project should have been done two years ago, but the federal gov't diverted 80% of the funding to Iraq. Other areas had settled by a few feet from their design specs, and the money to repair them was diverted to Iraq.

The NO paper raised hell about this time and again, to no avail. And who will take the blame for it? The Army Corps, because they're good soldiers and will never contradict the C in C. But Corps has had
massive budget cuts across all departments (including wetland regulatory) since Bush took office, and now we've reaped what was sown. It really pisses me off to see the Corps get used by the Administration to shield Bush — they do great work when they're funded. This was senseless, useless death caused not by nature but by budget decisions.