This past Sunday Nintendo started shipping their latest console called the Wii U which is the first of the next generation consoles. Both Microsoft and Sony won’t be launching their consoles this year and instead will wait until next year. We can expect the consoles to be announced at E3 2013 in the summer, and then ship in time for the 2013 holiday season. So the next Xbox and the PlayStation 4 are still a year away. However that’s not stopping reports from being made detailing what the next generation consoles will offer.

Xbox World published an article in their magazine detailing the next Xbox which will apparently be called just the Xbox. I guess Microsoft didn’t like the whole idea of Xbox 720 or Xbox 8. The Xbox should have a few key new features that will differentiate it from the current consoles. Since the Xbox 360 arrived six years ago the next Xbox will have some very significant hardware upgrades including a fast quad core processor, 8GB of RAM, and support for Blu-ray.

So generally speaking the next Xbox is going to be very similar as far as hardware goes to the pretty standard computers of today. To add to the internal hardware Microsoft has done a lot as far as how you will interact with the Xbox. First off there will be a next generation Kinect sensor called Kinect 2.0 which will possibly support Microsof’s own augmented reality glasses similar to Google Glass. Along with that Microsoft should have a new innovative controller.

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Microsoft got a lot of criticism over the past month for launching Windows 8 with a user interface designed primarily for tablet computers. Windows 8 has an app store that features tablet games like Fruit Ninja, and apps like Skype. In reality Microsoft was thinking ahead because there are reports that Apple is actually going to begin bringing even more features over from iOS to Mac OS X when Apple launches Mac OS X 10.9 next year.

According to 9to5Mac Apple’s next operating system Mac OS X 10.9 will feature both Siri and Apple Maps. Siri was introduced last year with iOS 5 on the iPhone 4S while Apple Maps recently launched with the iPhone 5 on iOS 6. For the most part Siri has been getting good reviews while Apple Maps has had many issues that have prevented it from being an incredibly successful product. We can probably assume that Apple Maps will be a bit more polished before it launches on Mac OS X.

Earlier this year when Apple launched OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion a lot of features like Notification Center, AirPlay, iMessage, Dictation, Reminders, Notes, Game Center, and iCloud were brought from the iOS platform to OS X so it makes sense that Apple will continue the trend with their next operating system. Expect to hear more about OS X 10.9 early next year. Just like last year Apple should launch a preview of the operating system this winter and then launch it later on in the spring or summer.

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This week we continued our series where we play the recently launched Need for Speed Most Wanted (2012) video game. In this video I focus on covering the progression of the game’s campaign. The game is setup where you earn speed points by winning races in cars. Once you have enough you can race blacklist members and move up the most wanted list. Next week I’ll cover the police in the game. If you’d like us to play a specific game then leave a comment.

The post Need For Speed Most Wanted (2012) Gameplay – Part 3: The Blacklist, Speed Points appeared first on The Prime.

This week on The Prime Podcast we talk about the brand new Acer C7 Chromebook, the HTC Droid DNA, and Google Fiber.

• Google Launches The $200 Acer C7 Chromebook
• Verizon Launches The 5-Inch 1080p HTC Droid DNA
• Google Fiber Officially Goes Live In Kansas City
• Verizon’s 4G LTE Network Will Be Completed In Mid-2013

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Over six years ago Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 as the first in the current generation of video game consoles. Because of the one year head start, lower cost, and greater availability the Xbox 360 really took off and sold significantly better than the Sony PlayStation 3. In the beginning you would have thought that Sony would have never even been close to the Xbox when it comes to sales statistics. However Sony has actually caught up over the years.

Today Sony announced that they have reached a total of 70 million consoles that have been sold across the world. Microsoft announced the same 70 million consoles sold statistic last month. In other words both Sony and Microsoft have nearly the same number of consoles out there in the world currently. Both consoles are today nearly identical in many aspects from price, to games, to the online community. Yeah each console has it’s pros and cons, but there is no real clear winner here.

It’ll be interesting to see how the upcoming generation of consoles does. Nintendo has already launched the Wii U and Sony and Microsoft should be launching their PlayStation 4 and next generation Xbox some time next year. Chances are both consoles will arrive towards the end of next year at similar pricing, and with very similar pricing.

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A couple of years ago Google officially announced Google Fiber. At the time they were looking for a single city where they would be able to first launch the product. After a year of thought Google announced that Kansas City would be the first city to get Fiber. Earlier this year Google announced the specific details when it comes to things like pricing, and when exactly Fiber would arrive in homes.

Today was another pretty significant milestone in the launch of Google Fiber. Today Google made Fiber live in the very first neighborhood within Kansas City. Fiber will bring a 1Gbps Internet connection to those who signed up. Users have reported that through WiFi they were able to reach 200Mbps speeds while through Ethernet users were able to reach closer to 700Mbps. Not quite the 1Gbps or 1000Mbps but still pretty impressive considering normally you’d be getting somewhere around 10Mbps for the same $70/month price that you pay for Google Fiber.

Google also uploaded a new video to their YouTube channel showing off the installation of Fiber. For the most part Google is working to make the installation process as simple as possible. They will connect a fiber optic cable to your house which will connect to something called a fiber jack which converts the fiber optic signal into an Ethernet signal. Think of it as a modem. Google will then connect the Network box, Storage  box, and the TV box. They will act as a router, DVR, and a cable box respectively.

Now that Google Fiber has launched in its very first neighborhood it should continue to spread throughout the other 179 neighborhoods in Kansas City. After that Google may consider bringing Fiber to other cities if everything goes well in Kansas City.

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Throughout most of this year there have been rumors of a flagship HTC smartphone that was due to arrive on Verizon’s network before the end of the year. It was supposed to be a 5-inch 1080p superphone that would make the best of the best phones seem outdated. Today Verizon and HTC held an event together where they announced this brand new smartphone which they are calling the HTC Droid DNA.

If you’re someone who cares a lot about specs then the Droid DNA from HTC is a great phone for you. We’re looking at a 5-inch Super LCD3 Android 4.1 Jelly Bean smartphone which features a 1080p resolution. If you aren’t familiar with what 1080p is it’s essentially what you find on the most high end HDTV’s out there. The only difference is that that same resolution has been crammed down into a 5-inch phone giving you a 440ppi which is greater than the iPhone 5.

To power that incredibly large and high resolution display HTC has added a fast 1.5GHz quad core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, 4G LTE support, HTC Sense 4+, Beats Audio, wireless charging, and more. So in other words it has all of the same features that many of the previous HTC smartphones have had from the HTC One X’s  Beats Audio to the HTC 8X’s wireless charging.

Verizon plans to begin selling the brad new Droid DNA on November 21st, just in time for Black Friday. A similar HTC J Butterfly launched in Japan last month. The good news is that the HTC Droid DNA has marked the point where Verizon can offer phones with 4G LTE without having to charge customers an added $100 at launch. Expect to see the DNA to sell for just $200 on a contract.

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A few weeks ago Google announced the new Samsung Chromebook which is now a pretty impressive $250 Chromebook powered by an ARM processor. That processor allows the Samsung Chromebook to be very thin and light while also offering pretty good performance and battery life, all for just $250. Essentially Google took the old Samsung Chromebook and found a way to make it offer similar performance and battery life, but at half the cost.

$250 is a pretty good deal for a Chromebook, but what if you want something even cheaper. Google has an answer for you since today they announced the new Acer C7 Chromebook which will sell for just $200. For the money you are getting a similar 11.6-inch 1366×768 machine but with an Intel Core series processor. It’ll be interesting to see how the Intel Core processor compares to the Exynos 5 Dual ARM processor inside of the Samsung Chromebook. Along with the Intel processor is an HD camera, WiFi, and an HDMI port.

To make the new Acer C7 cost just $200 Google had to make some sacrifices. One of those sacrifices is the battery life at only 3.5 hours which isn’t very impressive at all. On  the other side of things the C7 features 320GB of hard drive storage which is slower than the 16GB SSD inside of the Samsung Chromebook, but you are also looking at a slower drive. Both machines come with 100GB of free Google Drive storage for two years.

Google plans to begin selling the Acer C7 tomorrow, on November 13th. It’ll be available for $200 in the Google Play store and at other retailers. Honestly this Chromebook is interesting. Things like the processor are faster while things like the hard drive are bigger, but slower. For the most part it seems like a decent deal, the only problem is the not so impressive 3.5 hours of battery life. But I guess not everyone needs the 6.5 hours that the Samsung Chromebook offers.

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This week we moved away from Minecraft and Saints Row and started playing the recently launched Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012) game. This video is primarily an introduction to the game including comparisons with other Need for Speed games including the original Most Wanted. I also share my opinions on certain parts of the games like the cops, cars, and gameplay. Next week I’ll start focusing on more specific aspects of the game. If you’d like us to play a specific game then leave a comment.

The post Need For Speed Most Wanted (2012) Gameplay – Part 2: Introduction appeared first on The Prime.

This week on The Prime Podcast we talk about Apple possibly making ARM powered Macs, the upcoming Xbox Surface tablet, and Google’s new Nexus tablets.

• Apple Plans To Use Their Own Processors In Future Macs
• Microsoft Is Planning A 7-Inch Xbox Surface Tablet
• Google Says That 10-Inch Tablets Were Overpriced And Underpowered Before The Nexus 10

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