Xbox Live update going live on Tuesday

Xbox Live’s General Manager, Marc Whitten, confirmed that the new update would be released on Tuesday, November 17.  Among the new features, which has already been made available to Beta testers, include Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM and Zune support.

The Dashboard update includes:

• Facebook – Update your status to share what movie, game or entertainment you’re enjoying, connect with friends and view their Facebook stream, status updates and photos on the big screen – all seamlessly integrated and custom-built for Xbox 360. You can even compare your Xbox LIVE and Facebook friends lists to see which of your friends are on LIVE.

• Zune – Zune video on Xbox LIVE offers a full fidelity experience with instant on HD in 1080p and 5.1 channel surround sound. No waiting for downloads or buffering, it’s there at the press of a button. You can also share the experience with up to seven friends through voice chat and Avatar integration on the TV screen – it puts a whole new spin on “movie night.”

• Twitter – Stay in the know by discovering, posting and replying to Tweets right on your Xbox 360. You can even view friend profiles, trends and conversations, or search to see who’s tweeting about your favorite game.

• Last.fm – Discover more music and explore endless personalized radio stations with Last.fm on Xbox 360. Skip, “ban” or “love” tracks to create your perfect mix—we’ve even built in “Gamer Stations” with game-related types of music selected specifically for the gaming community.

• Xbox LIVE will also be debuting “News and More,” a new section of the “Inside Xbox” channel, transforming Xbox LIVE into a full-fledged media portal. With a regularly-updated stream of content from MSNBC, The New Yorker and Dilbert, “News and More” brings the latest in current events, arts and entertainment right to your fingertips.

Xbox Live now has over 20 million active members, with 114% growth in the number of new members joining in 2009. Equally impressive, Live users have made more than one billion downloads.

[via 360Sync.com]

Windows: Games For Windows Live Gets Revamped Look, Marketplace

Windows: Games For Windows Live Gets Revamped Look, Marketplace: "Games for Windows Live, that free Microsoft service for social gaming stuff on your PC, has gotten a face lift—partially because the original version, being more or less an Xbox Live port, wasn't actually PC-user friendly. Now the new interface is supposed to be designed 'with PC gamers in mind.' GWL will keep Achievements, TrueSkill matchmaking, voice and text chats and gamertags, but adds a special marketplace (similar to Xbox Live's Marketplace) for buying trailers, demos and add-on game content. Check out a multitude of pics of the updated interface at Kotaku.

[Game Daily via Kotaku]

This entry was created using an Accelerator feature from Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2.  Seems pretty useful.  Check it out here.

Xbox 360 Dashboard to support Netflix Streaming

This morning we announced support for Netflix service as being built-in in an upcoming software update to 360 service. As C|Net points out, there have been some workarounds for this in the meantime, but this solution will allow you to stream natively and without a dedicated Media Center PC.

Also announced is a shared movie experience that will let you watch a movie at distance with up to 7 friends at once. Major Nelson promises more details on this later today.

[via Channel 10]

I am looking forward to it, hopefully it'll fix the problem with fast forwarding and rewinding.  It can jam up with the current workarounds.

Playstation 2.40 Firmware Updates Bricking Some PS3's

The most highly anticipated 2.40 PS3 firmware update that brings long awaited cool in-game stuff, is bricking the consoles. Yes, if you haven't updated your PS3 system with this update, don't!

Sony has already pulled the update because of all the issues, and for the unlucky ones who've already bricked their machine, Kokaku might be able to help you out. But if you haven't, just hold off until the fixed update is released.

[Kotaku via Gizmodo]

Leopard Update 10.5.1 Is Available Today

Apple pushed out their first update to Leopard, which addressed some surprising bug issues. One fix corrected by the 10.5.1 release was a little problem with "potential data loss" with partitions in Finder, and another addresses drive limitations within "Time Machine". There are some improvements with the Mail.app, but for a complete list of fixes, hit the jump below:

[Apple.com]