I've never complained, but apparently, enough people did that Microsoft is updating the Xbox360 controller to include a shape-changing D-pad:

"We've heard from the community that you're not big fans of the D-pad, so the engineers went back into the laboratory and came up with this ingenious solution," Larry Hryb, Xbox Live programming director, said in a video demo. "It is a revolutionary D-pad that transforms from a disc into a plus … with the twist of a hand."

The "plus" format, therefore, can be used for cardinal directional moves, while the "disc" format is intended for sweeping moves, Microsoft said.

I just wish they'd stop being so proprietary; it'd be much better for consumers if there were more third-party controller options.

AMD has announced the official retirement of the ATI brand. The next round of graphics chips will be "AMD Radeon" and "AMD FirePro."

As one might expect, a major motivator is the fact AMD plans to introduce a range of new products incorporating both AMD microprocessor technology and a Radeon graphics tech on the same chip. The first fruits of the CPU-GPU "Fusion" initiative are slated to arrive soon. "Ontario," which will combine two copies of the low-power "Bobcat" CPU core with Radeon graphics, is slated to ship before the end of the year. The more powerful "Llano" APU, which mates quad Phenom II-class CPU cores with presumably a more capable GPU, is scheduled for the first half of 2011. Obviously, the combination of the firm's CPU and GPU technologies into single-chip products could create some consumer confusion, if folks were to continue to think of AMD and ATI as separate entities—especially if the ensuing marketing messages emphasize the benefits of CPU-GPU integration.

For laptops and some systems, this is probably good. For those who might want to upgrade CPU and GPU separately, not so much...

Activision/Raven's Singularity.

First thoughts: ok, so it takes quite a while to get the story going. Even moreso when considering the number of twists and turns and "oops, why did I save that jerk again?" moments.

Once it finally gets moving? I'm quite enjoying the options. For an FPS/horror mashup, it has surprising depth. More to come as I get further in.

Over at the NY Times: scientific research indicating that people have an inherent need to unplug in order to learn.

In related news, I need to do more gardening.

The technology makes the tiniest windows of time entertaining, and potentially productive. But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.

Ms. Bates, for example, might be clearer-headed if she went for a run outside, away from her devices, research suggests.

Wired takes a look at game developers who've decided to go Indie. And make some pretty kick-ass games.

But that’s not what the new crop of indies are. They’re veterans of the triple-A game biz with decades of experience behind them. They’ve worked for the biggest companies and had a hand in some of the industry’s biggest blockbusters. They could work on anything, but they’ve found creative fulfillment splitting off into a tiny crew and doing their own thing. They’re using everything they’ve learned working on big-budget epics and applying it to small, downloadable games.

The good news for gamers is that, as the industry’s top talents depart the big studios and go into business for themselves, players are being treated to a new class of indie game. They’re smaller and carry cheaper price tags, but they’re produced by industry veterans instead of thrown together by B teams and interns. Most importantly, unlike big-budget games that need to appeal to the lowest common denominator to turn a profit, these indie gems reveal the undiluted creative vision of their makers.

It'd be nice to see the trend continue, to a degree. Also nice to see the corporate pointy-haired bosses see the light and start letting the developers make the games they started out making once more, rather than trying to do everything by committee and focus group.

Over at Tech Review, an article spotlighting the way game companies shoot themselves in the foot with crazy DRM schemes:

Esguerra says an "always-on" DRM scheme can unfairly affect those who live in rural areas and lack consistent connectivity. He adds that such DRM schemes can render a game worthless if the company behind it goes bust or decides to stop supporting that title. Some games, such as World of Warcraft, need a connection to provide integral features. But Esguerra thinks players are offended when the connection isn't essential to the game play.

That's an understatement, certainly.

Jack Horkheimer, PBS mainstay for kids or adults watching their station sign off for the night, has has passed away.

The show started airing locally on WPBT in Miami, then went national in 1985. Along the way his nom de television morphed from "Star Hustler" to "Star Gazer," to sidestep aggressive web-browsing filters.

The shows are distributed free, via satellite to more than 200 stations across the U.S. and to other outlets like the Armed Forces Network. You can download any of the past year's episodes as well. Since Horkheimer and longtime planetarium colleague Bill Dishong produced several episodes in advance, the last one to feature Horkheimer — his 1,708th — will air the first week of September and feature the Summer Triangle. As always, he begins with a chortling "Greetings, greetings, fellow stargazers and ends with his signature phrase "Keep looking up!"

One more month of shows will be finished by a colleague, and after that, the Miami Planetarium plans to see whether they want to continue the show or not. He'll be missed.

Intel just agreed to buy McAfee for $7.7 billion.

And the consolidation in the hardware and software markets continues...

Ars has a story on lying ISPs: it turns out most of them are talking out an "other orifice" when stating the speed on their connections.

After crunching the data, FCC wonks have concluded that ISPs advertised an average (mean) "up to" download speed of 6.7Mbps in 2009. That's not what broadband users got, though.

"However, FCC analysis shows that the median actual speed consumers experienced in the first half of 2009 was roughly 3 Mbps, while the average (mean) actual speed was approximately 4 Mbps," says the report. "Therefore actual download speeds experienced by US consumers appear to lag advertised speeds by roughly 50 percent."

So yeah. Expect it. And hope the FCC's work on better truth-in-labeling regulations comes through.

The World Pinball Championships are over, and we have a winner. Several actually.

Classics I - Dave Hegge
Classics II - Josh Sharpe
Juniors - Justin Ortscheid
Seniors - Rick Prince
C Division - Seth Lettofsky
B Division - Joshua Henderson
A Division - Keith Elwin, RE-REPEAT WORLD PINBALL CHAMPION

Congratulations to all of them - especially Mr. Elwin.