Today was a very big day for Microsoft at the E3 event, with the company announcing a Slim Xbox 360 console, the official launch of the Kinect motion control system and ESPN live and on-demand content through XBL.

Flying under the radar however, with all the headline grabbing news, was the addition of a "search" function to the Netflix application through the Xbox 360 console.

The addition of search makes the console the first of the current-generation systems to have such a function, adds Marc Whitten.

Says Whitten: "We're proud of our continued innovation with Netflix. We were the first gaming console to bring instantly streaming movies from Netflix right to the living room. The first to let you update your Netflix instant Queue without a computer. And Xbox LIVE remains the only place you can share the fun with up to seven friends in a Movie Party. Starting this November, Xbox 360 will offer Netflix search. Just type what you’re looking for, immediately search from thousands of titles you can watch instantly, and update your Queue, all right over Xbox LIVE. We’re making your entertainment easier to discover."

An internal memo from U.S. retailer Target has revealed that the price of non-slim Xbox 360 models is to be cut by $50 on Tuesday. Microsoft unveiled a new slimmer Xbox 360 console with a 250GB HDD and internal 802.11n WiFi for $299, the same price point as the Xbox 360 Elite console that comes with a 120GB HDD.

The Target memo about the price cuts reads...

Due to an announcement made Monday 6/14, the following Xbox Game Consoles will be Price Cut by $50 effective Tuesday 6/15:
207/21/2 (Xbox 360 ARCADE CORE HARDWARE): $199.99 to $149.99
207/21/4 (Xbox 360 ELITE CONSOLE): $299.99 to $249.99
207/21/7 (NFC Xbox 360 COD MODRN WRFE2 LTD ED): $399.99 to $349.99
207/21/8 (Xbox 360 FINAL FANTASY XIII BND): $399.99 to $349.99
207/21/9 (TC SPLINTER CELL BUNDLE): $399.99 to $349.99
Source: Kotaku

The new Xbox 360 console will be available in stores later in the week, after Microsoft revealed it started shipping on Monday.

At Microsoft's E3 Press Conference today, it was revealed that a deal with ESPN will bring live sports and on-demand content to Xbox Live. The exclusive deal with Microsoft will bring 3,500 live and on-demand sports events including college football, college basketball, Major League Baseball, NBA basketball, soccer and more. Giving a demonstration of the Xbox Live ESPN features was Josh Elliot and Trey Wingo of SportsCenter,

They showed how ESPN on Xbox Live can take advantage of the new Kinect motion sensing system when it is launched in November. While watching a game, it was demoed how telling the Xbox 360 which side you want to join (in the demonstration, "Xbox: Join USC") displays how many people are cheering for each side.

Saying "Xbox: Replay" replayed a touchdown from the game, while real-time polls and trivia will also be displayed to enhance the experience. ESPN.com content can be accessed to bring up highlights, game scores, statistics and other information that is available.

Most of the 3,500 sports events that will be delivered through Xbox Live from ESPN will be available in High-definition. One of the most welcome parts about the ESPN deal is it will bring content to Xbox Live Gold members at no extra charge.

Microsoft revealed at its E3 Press Conference today that the Kinect motion-control system will be launched on November 4, 2010 in North America. The company demoed using the controller-free user interface for Xbox Live content, including using sound as well as motion as controls. No price details were given yet.

The Xbox console can recognize and sign in a user that simply waves at it. An additional wave launches the Kinect Menu. The Kinect Menu is populated by Kinect Adventures, Netflix, Zune, Facebook, Friends, Avatar Editor and Last.FM.

Using hand controls, a user can select a movie to watch on the Xbox 360, and also use his/her hands to drag a bar to seek through the video content. Simply saying "Xbox: Pause", will pause the video, while "Xbox: Play" will resume it. "Xbox: Stop", will exit the video and go back to the menu.

Just as with movies, you can use your voice and hands to control music content, instructing the Xbox to play music and then using hand movements to go back and forth between tracks or albums. Microsoft's goals is to make all of your entertainment needs controller-free, not just gaming.

Microsoft Corp. unveiled a new slim Xbox 360 console at the E3 press conference which also saw the launch date for Kinect and other goodies revealed. The new Xbox 360 console comes with a 250GB hard disk drive and built in wireless capabilities, including 802.11n support, the "fastest WiFi in any console."

The new Xbox 360 console does not come with a new price tag (remains at $299), and for the lucky audience who watched the event, Microsoft generously gave away one free to each. The console ships today and will be available later this week in stores.

You do not need the new Xbox 360 console to use "Kinect for Xbox 360" as has been speculated, and the add-on will launch in every country that the Xbox 360 console is currently sold in.

Among other announcements made alongside the launch of the new slimmer Xbox 360, it was also revealed that all add-ons and map packs for Call Of Duty will become available first on Xbox 360 up until 2012. An exclusive deal between Microsoft and ESPN to bring 3,500 live sports events (mostly in HD) to Xbox Live was also announced, including NBA, MLB and soccer content.

Everyone from home viewers, to people who have traveled to watch their team in South Africa and even many of the footballers themselves have voiced their absolute hatred for the beehive-like buzzing that is being broadcast throughout the world due to rampant use of Vuvuzelas during the World Cup matches. The noise is so loud that professional players have complained they cannot even communicate with each other on the pitch.

While there has been some talk of banning the evil instruments from the stadiums altogether, some of us just cannot wait that long. If you are watching the World Cup through your computer, or if it is possible for you to route the audio through a computer/laptop/htpc, then you might be able to get rid of that annoyance nice and quickly with the help of some information online.

Basically, if you can filter out sound at 233, 466, 932 and 1864 Hz you will have killed 95 percent (estimated from my own experience) of the noise and can save your liver from the copious amounts of pain killers you need to get rid of the headache after the game.

Filter in Windows

Microsoft has reportedly confirmed that the Project Natal motion sensing system for the Xbox 360 console, first announced at last year's E3 event, will retail as "Kinect". The new name surfaced online on Sunday night with most sites pointing back to a USA Today article that was taken offline but it has since been confirmed.

In addition to the new name for the motion sensing system that Microsoft has asserted will be as fundamental to the Xbox brand as Xbox Live, a short list of Kinect games was also revealed. Kinectimals is a title that will allow the player to train and play with 20 different feline members of the animal kingdom, including lines and tigers.

Kinect Sports is basically an answer for the popular Wii Sports titles with boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field and soccer activities included. Joyride is a kart-style racer title where the player grips an imaginary steering wheel while using his/her feet for accelerating and braking.

A new Microsoft Italy advertisement has surfaced today on Console Tribe showing off a Slim Xbox 360 console, next to a Project Natal system, which has been apparently renamed Kinect.

The Slim device will have built-in Wi-Fi, a 250GB HDD and compatibility with Kinect.

Interestingly, the ad was created by Atlas Solutions, an ad company owned by Microsoft, so it seems legitimate.

Microsoft has not commented on the speculation.

We will likely know more about the console, and "Kinect" tomorrow during the E3 event.

Video by Joystiq:

When Apple finally officially launched the iPhone 4 last week, the older iPhone 3GS had its price cut as a way to clear inventory.

If you purchased the Apple device in recent weeks, the company is now price matching, giving refunds back for the difference between the old price or the new price.

Additionally, users can get an upgrade to the new, improved iPhone 4 instead of the refund.

The policy is in effect for anyone who has bought a 3GS after May 7th.

Owners with a 16GB model will get a $50 credit and 32GB owners will get a $100 credit.

Anyone who purchased the smartphone between May 7 and May 14 are running out of time, however, and will need to put in a request at the store they bought the device by tomorrow, Monday the 14th.

To get an iPhone 4, the device is a straight trade, unless you are moving up in storage capacity (such as 16GB to 32GB models).

Cablevision, the fifth biggest cable operator in the U.S., has announced today the acquisition of Bresnan Communications for $1.36 billion USD.

The ISP had to beat out bids from TPG Capital, BC Partners Ltd., Suddenlink Communications and Ascent Media Corp., say sources close to the negotiations.

The acquisition gives Cablevision a bigger piece of the broadband market, which is expected to continue to grow exponentially over the next few years.

Bresnan is a large force in the Midwest, with roots in Minnesota and now the Rocky Mountain states.

The ISP has little competition in its territories, and should be an inexpensive way for Cablevision to expand out from their bread-and-butter states of New York and New Jersey.

PlayOn, the popular streaming service used on the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles has announced the addition of ESPN3 World Cup live-streaming to the service.

It is important to note that only certain ISPs have access to ESPN3, but those include most of the largest providers, such as Comcast, AT&T, Cox and Verizon. You can check if your provider offers the network here: http://espn.go.com/espn3/channelFinder.

To get the service to work, you must buy and download the PlayOn software on your PC, and then you can stream the content to any DLNA-compatible device, including the aforementioned gaming consoles.

Current content available includes Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, NHL, PBS.org, MTV.com and VH1.com and others.

It was reported on Friday that the start of the World Cup has led to record Internet traffic levels, with users flocking to news sites for results, or live streaming the games and highlights.

Native applications for the Apple iPad have reached their first milestone today, 10,000 apps available, with almost 1000 being added each week.

In the iPad library, there are 2100 games available, with the rest being a plethora of other categories.

A majority 78 percent of the native iPad apps are paid applications, slightly smaller than the 80 percent reported when the iPad store opened on April 3rd with 3000 choices.

The overall iPhone app store, which has 225,000 titles, has 75 percent paid applications.

In 2008, when the iPhone app store launched, it took five months to reach the 10,000 app milestone.

Until this week, the answer to whether the upcoming Chrome OS could run Windows apps was "no."

The Chrome OS is completely in "the cloud," so all apps had to be accessed through the Chrome Web browser, and installed and "saved" to the Chrome OS.

This week, however, Google software engineer Gary Kačmarčík has announced "Chromoting", a feature that will give users a chance to access "legacy PC applications" through a remote desktop connection process.

Says the engineer: "We're adding new capabilities all the time. With this functionality (unofficially named "chromoting"), Chrome OS will not only be great platform for running modern web apps, but will also enable you to access legacy PC applications right within the browser. We'll have more details to share on chromoting in the coming month."

While that leaves details on Chromoting scant, most believe that the process will be a sharing function that will require a home/office computer to be kept on, while the Chrome OS computer uses remote access.

Boxee has announced that the D-Link Boxee Box will hit North America in November, finally putting a set timetable down on the much-anticipated set-top box.

Initially, the company had hoped to release the box by June, but production delays set shipments back.

The goal of the Boxee Box is to give users a way to play 1080p HD videos from the Web or their local network while using hardware acceleration.

Additionally, the box will "provide a TV browser experience that can handle almost everything you throw at it, including Flash 10.1."

Boxee also wants the box to be affordable and "not feel obsolete 12 months after you buy it."

Earlier in the year, a Google Street View car caught two teenagers in Staffordshire, England in a provocative pose on their front lawn and the picture became the default for street view for Common Rd. in the town.

Today, Google has taken down the image, leaving the simple words: "This image is no longer available."

On Wednesday, The Daily Mail reported on the teens, Hayley Moss and Eddie Bateman, who admitted the picture shows their first kiss.

Says Moss of the event: "I couldn't believe it, I wouldn't admit to it being me at first, as I was worried it looked quite bad, as it looks more than it is, but it really was just a kiss. I think it's amazing that our first kiss has been in the paper."

Google has captured kidnappers, and other bizarre sightings through its Street View cars but the latest begs the question of how users feel about their personal privacy being invaded.