Jason

If Microsoft settled, perhaps they were hoping their settlement funds would fuel a more damaging lawsuit against Nintendo.

What's so hard about plugging the camera into the computer? :)

The problem, folks, is that metadata is just data and can be stripped just like any other data. Just like DRM can be stripped from iTunes files, these watermarks can be stripped from images.

In fact you could argue that it would make things worse, since the really nasty folks will swap their own retinal information into the file and then claim ownership.

It's just a patent though.

For those of you who have not experienced "3D" sound through headphones, I'm here to tell you it can sound fantastic. In fact, the stuff I've heard sounds even better with headphones than with a true surround sound setup! It makes sense that this is possible, because after all, our ears are only stereo to begin with. The way it works is by subtly distorting the sound as direction changes, in a way that mimics how stuff sounds when it bounces into our ears at different angles. The effect can be amazingly convincing. For an example, listen to some binaural audio clips (Google for "virtual haircut"). Binaural audio clips are typically recorded with a dummy head and two fake ears, but technologies exist that simulate this effect quite well, and that's what I assume Dolby and SRS are doing here.

Don't feel bad Aussies. Here are a couple of reasons why the online stinks anyway:

1) It takes entire clips to get close to killing someone. The "bullets" are more like bee-bees.

2) If you don't manage to kill someone the first time around, their health quickly jumps back up to 100%.

3) The maps are not laid out well. There aren't enough routes, and they are way too big. This is made worse by the fact that you can't jump (in other words, there are no possible shortcuts).

On the positive side, the EA lobby system is pretty good, although good luck figuring out your ping times.

For me, this is a little more expensive than Netflix. I watch at least 5 movies a month, for a $15 subscription fee. So that's $3 per disc at most, and closer to $2 much of the time. If iTunes can build their library up big enough, I might consider switching. Netflix's online viewing selection isn't so hot right now.

...for podcasters who don't own computers?

#6, you can only use the motion-swings in a special mode, which plays like Wii Sports Baseball. There are some differences, I'm sure, but I know you don't control fielders or anything like that. For most of the game you'll be using more traditional controls.

And as for the 162 game season, I would be very surprised if you couldn't do that somehow, but I don't know yet.

Oh wait, this is with your own music? Hah! Carry on!

If I were you I wouldn't be trying to rip off Apple lest they ban you from purchases or something.