It amazes me how far salesmen will go to sell you something you don’t need. If you have ever bought something Hi Def, or are planning on it, chances are you’ve looked at cables. And depending on where you were shopping, were left COMPLETELY dumbfounded when you saw the pirce tag. $120 for a 6 foot HDMI Cable!?

RIDICULOUS!

Salesmen will go out of their way to completely rip you off. They figure, “Hey! They’re buying a $2000 set-up! Whats $100 more??”

Truth is, they’re just showing the most expensive name brand item they have, such as Monster Cable. Monster Cables look very nice, but they are just that, designer cables. There is nothing FANCY about the cables that makes them better than others. You can go online to eBay, and pick up one for a few bucks plus shipping. If your willing to wait a few days, or just buy in advance, you can litterly save yourself $100 right there!

HDMI Cables carry a digital signal, one made up of 1’s or zeros. Either it gets to the source, or it doesn’t. There is no middle man. The only reason you would need a fancier cable is if your Blu-Ray Player, or PS3, or whatever, was 100 feet away from your tv. THEN you would need something longer. But chances are, they’re next to your TV. So why pay for a fancy looking cable thats just going to be hidden behind the TV, when you can buy a cheaper one that accomplishes the EXACT SAME THING!

I bought a $2 cable off eBay, and i have to say its worked flawlessly. I don’t need a fancy Monster Cable, and neither do you! Monster Cable is trying to rip you off with ridiculous prices, don’t fall for it!

Just as a little friendly reminder, tomorrow is April Fool’s Day.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is: We’d all love for Nintendo to suddenly give everyone who clicks a link a free Wii, but face it, it doesn’t seem too likely.

Sourcing is important: If a blockbuster April 1 story comes from unnamed sources or a mysteriously dead web site, remain skeptical. The least they could do is forge some documentation for their joke; make them work for it.

Heck, you may just want to ignore any news tomorrow. Most of it will be crap. even UsbringGeek is getting a jump on it….

I personally hate this holiday… but whatever… what’s life without any fun?

What about you? Do you like or hate April 1?

Martin LaMonica over at CNET.com pointed out something rather interesting in the Safari TOS. It specifically says “The software allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time.”

Apple apparently hasn’t gotten use to the whole making browsers for Windows thing yet…..

I know that no person actually bothers to read this junk, but when the company that actually MAKES the software doesn’t bother to read it, it’s an insult. Apply, along with other companies, can and WILL use the TOS to sue anyone who alters their programs or hardware in anyway. So why would they literally just copy and paste the thing into every program?

After seeing Martin LaMonica blog, Fabio Zambelli of settleB.IT informs him that “the Apple license has been updated so that Windows PC users can install Safari without fear of violating any licenses. Zambelli says the change occurred overnight Wednesday to Thursday European time.”

[CNET: Safari for Windows: Only for ‘Apple-labeled’ computers?]

If you’ve been tampering with your GamerScore on Xbox LIVE, prepare to receive a nasty little treat from the administrators of Microsoft’s online gaming network.

In a blog posted by administrator Major Nelson, the picture boy for Xbox Live if you will, the company will no longer tolerate players cheating in any way to alter their online stats. Apparently hackers and modders have been running modified games and systems that automatically award a player Achievement Points, a score built by accomplishing tasks in a game, without even having to play the game for a single second. Apparently having a HUGE GamerScore is more important than actually enjoying the game. Must be compensating for something…

On Tuesday, Nelson announced that the Xbox team had begun to take steps against cheating. Anyone found altering their scores will have their account reset to zero, have all achievements marked as incomplete (even the legit ones), and have their profile branded “as a cheater for the community to view” on both Xbox.com and in the Xbox Live dashboard. OH, THE HORROR!

Judging by the response on forums, the new enforcement is greatly welcomed with legit players. Xbox however will not state just how exactly many players they are nailing, and how exactly they are determining who is cheating and who isn’t. They have however posted an FAQ about the matter here.

[CNN.news: Xbox Live taking action on Gamerscore tampering]

It never seems to end does it? It seems like Blu-ray only just won the format war against HD DVD, and already it is about to get tangled in another fight. This time, it’s copyright infringement.

Apparently the U.S. International Trade Commission, or ITC, has voted to investigate claims by a Professor Gertrude Neumark Rothschild that SONY violated her patents that involved methods of using light emitting diodes to read data off of discs. (The full details are: U.S. Patent No. 4,904,618, “Process for Doping Crystals of Wide Band Gap Semiconductors,” and U.S. Patent No. 5,252,499, “Wide Band-Gap Semiconductors Having Low Bipolar Resistivity and Method of Formation”)

Professor Gertrude Neumark Rothschild has requested that Sony, along with roughly 30 companies, be issued a cease and desist order, preventing them from manufacturing and importing anymore units into the US. If she is successful, not only does Sony lose a major format war it so long fought for, but a console war as well! After all, PS3s are Blu-ray players.

The ITC has stated that it has simply started an investigation into the matter, and hasn’t made any decision as how to handle the issue. The next step in the process will be to hold a hearing to determine whether there really is a violation in patent laws.

[Joystiq: US Trade Commission investigates Blu-ray patent]

According to a number of record industry executives, there’s currently talk between Apple and the music industry about giving iPod and iPhone users unlimited access to music downloads, after a special fee, of course.

This news comes as a bit of surprise, considering just last year Steve Jobs made it clear that he believed customers didn’t want to rent their music and that Apple had no plans to create a Music Subscription Service. Yes Steve, we would MUCH rather have to buy the same stupid song 4 times so we can listen to it on different devices. Apparently Apple realized that people would rather use other download services that DON’T use DRM protection. Go figure.

The iPod is a dying fashion. It used to be a novelty to carry around 10,000 songs in your pocket, but people wanted more. Then Apple added video. And people wanted more, so Apple made it smaller, and then threw in a phone. Giving the iPod unlimited access to music might just be the thing to make people want to upgrade their iPods.

Many reports are speculating the service will cost $7 a month for unlimited music, or an extra $100 stuck onto the iPod’s/iPhone’s price tag, giving users a lifetime’s access to free music. Record companies would receive compensation for every sale of a portable device, something Apple isn’t too thrilled with if you ask me.

If Apple ran with this idea, they would pretty much have a monopoly over the music industry. But $7 for unlimited music? Not a bad deal…

Apple has yet to comment on the idea.

[Los Angeles Times: Apple may offer music subscription service]

If you a huge fan of the series Metal Gear Solid like me, chances are
your gonna want to get the Limited Edition version when it’s released
on June 12, 2008.

The Limited Edition comes packed with the game (of
course), two Making Of Documentaries, and the complete soundtrack…
along with some sexy boxy art.

If your planning on picking up the limited edition, be forewarned. While the price of the normal game is going to be $60, the L.E. is going to set you back $85. And get this, and can only be purchase at GameStop (as far as I know, this is only in America).

You gonna get it?

Technorati Tags: Metal Gear Solid, PS3, Games, GameStop

Yep, its official! After two years of fierce battling between SONY’s Blu-ray and Toshiba’s HD DVD, a winner has emerged! The NHK, a reliable news source in Japan, is reporting that Toshiba has decided to DROP the HD DVD line, putting the final nail in the coffin. SONY biggest blow was the fact that Warner Bros., one of the largest major movie studios, decided to go Blu-ray exclusive. Last year many consumer reports that Blu-ray was occupying 90% of homes with Hi Def players.

Toshiba has announced that it will continue to market HD DVD products for a little while longer, before completely dropping the entire format. Looks like the want to get rid of everything. Might not be a bad idea to pick up a few of these clearance items. Even if the format isn’t supported, you might be able to get some Hi Def movies dirt cheap along with a cheap player. If you’re a geek, get one as a prize to remember 50 years from now.

To everyone who picked HD over the Blu, tough luck!

For the past two weeks, YouTube.com has seemed to be…. flat out broken. Video files seem to go missing at random times, uploading videos is taking longer, and once the file is actually up, it behaves erratically. Clicking the link to your new video doesn’t go anywhere, or goes to the player, and plays the completely wrong video, if at all! The player itself also has an unusual amount of bugs. Connecting so a video can buffer is becoming a game of luck, and some videos stop playing after 3 seconds. If you move the play bar, they start again, and of course, stop 3 seconds later.

If Google wants people to stop using YouTube, this is just how to do it. If you can’t watch videos or upload them, then what’s there to do? Read all the ‘mature and engaging’ comments? Google needs to fix YouTube or risk losing its users. Youtube became popular because it was a free, reliable way to share your videos. Now it’s far from being reliable. I have a lot of things I want to post, but I can’t because I don’t want to feature a broken video! I tried to contact Google on the issue, but god help me if I can find a freaking email page to use. Everything redirects to the bloody FAQ.

Am I the only one seeing this? Are you still using YouTube? Are you seeing any of the issues I described? Please leave a comment!

Rumors circulating the internet are speaking about something that will largely effect us at Live.Pirillo.com! Apparently, uStream and Microsoft are talking about a deal that would give Microsoft complete control over all the features and shows we love on uStream. While no official announcement has been made yet, the deal is rumored to be at $50 million, which is weird considering Microsoft is already in the works of buying Yahoo. At the same time, it could also lead one to think that Microsoft is taking a large dive into expanding their social network. What will Microsoft have planned for uStream, and all the shows that run? Will there be services that we actually have to pay for to use? Keep watching for detail!