Remember when the term “next generation” meant systems like the N64 and original PlayStation? Those were the days. Now the term next generation can only be legally applied to the post-PSWii60 systems that are no doubt being planned as we speak. While no one knows anything for sure about these units yet, that hasn’t stopped Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson from predicting a 2010 start date for the next console cycle.

Talking about EA’s bullish revenue projections, Wilson let slip to Gamespot that he believes Nintendo will launch first, followed by Microsoft later in the year (no word on when the assumed PS4 will come). On the portable side, Wilson also predicts the next round of Nintendo DS and Sony PSP hardware will appear sometime in 2010, though it’s not clear whether he’s calling for a new chipset or just anotherredesign.

If these predictions pan out, that means you only have 687 to 1051 days to save up for a very expensive year.

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Information Via CNN:

 WASHINGTON (CNN) — The U.S. military may try within days to shoot down a failed satellite using a missile launched from a Navy ship, officials announced Thursday

A Delta II rocket carrying a national reconnaissance satellite like the one officials want to shoot down.

Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon that the window to accomplish the mission could begin in three to four days, and remain open for seven to eight.

While much space trash and debris have safely crashed to Earth after burning up in the atmosphere on re-entry, authorities said what makes this 5,000-pound satellite different is the approximately 1,000 pounds of frozen toxic hydrazine propellant it carries.

Without any intervention, officials believe the satellite would come down on its own in early March.

If it came down in one piece, nearly half the spacecraft would survive re-entry and the hydrazine — heated to a gas — could spread a toxic cloud roughly the size of two football fields, Cartwright said.

Hydrazine is similar to chlorine or ammonia in that it affects the lungs and breathing tissue, the general said.

The option of striking the satellite with a missile launched from an Aegis cruiser was decided upon by President Bush after consultation with several government and military officials and aerospace experts, said Deputyj National Security Adviser James Jeffrey.

“After further review of this option and, in particular, consideration of the question of saving or reducing injury to human life, the president, on the recommendation of his national and homeland teams, directed the Department of Defense to carry out the intercept,” Jeffrey said.

The goal is to hit the satellite just before it enters Earth’s atmosphere and blast it apart so that the hydrazine tank explodes. The smaller debris would be more likely to burn up in the atmosphere.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said there’s nothing the military can do to make the outcome worse.

“If we miss, nothing changes. If we shoot and barely touch it, the satellite is just barely in orbit” and would still burn up somewhat in the atmosphere, Griffin said.

“If we shoot and get a direct hit, that’s a clean kill and we’re in good shape,” he added.

Experts said that with three-quarters of Earth covered in water, there’s a 25 percent chance the satellite’s remnants will hit land — and a 1 percent chance they will hit a populated area.

There will be three Navy ships involved in the operation. The USS Lake Erie, an Aegis cruiser, will fire the missile, while trajectory information comes from a second ship. The third ship will be used as a backup, U.S. Navy officials said.

The Lake Erie has long been used as the platform for the sea-based missile defense program.

Cartwright said the satellite stopped working within hours of its launch, and has not responded to attempts to communicate with it. He brushed off blog theories that the military wants to shoot down the satellite with a missile to destroy any classified data it may have accumulated in its short life, or to prevent other countries from acquiring the technology.

In January 2007, China used a land-based missile to destroy a 2,200-pound satellite that was orbiting 528 miles above Earth.

But the impact left more than 150,000 pieces of debris floating above Earth, NASA estimates. The space agency characterizes nearly 2,600 pieces as “large,” meaning greater than 4 inches across, which pose a potential threat to satellites and spacecraft.

China is responsible for 42 percent of all satellite debris in orbit as of January 1, most of it from that Fengyun-C meteorological satellite.

NASA has called it the worst satellite breakup in history.

AT&T Palm users: the Centro is definitely on starting next week. We’ve gotten solid confirmation that next Tuesday (that’d be the 19th, as we heard) will, in fact, be the day Palm’s budget handset launches on AT&T. We expect the price should be set at $99, no final word on colors (expect white); we’ll check back in next week at launch time.

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Nothing says Valentine’s Day like trying to cash in on a vulnerable, insecure relationship — and it looks like Palm’s doing its best to, ahem, “be there” for Blackberry addicts left a little shaken by Monday’s network outage. The company’s taken out full page ads in several national papers and changed its homepage to read that Palm devices include a little something called “uptime” — which is actually pretty funny since we’ve got a Treo 750 here that’s been rendered all-but-useless by AT&T’s various outages these past few weeks, but we’ll still grant points for panache. Of course, that still doesn’t change the fact that a recent survey ranked Palm dead last in customer satisfaction, but since when has being a homewrecker had anything to do with long-term happiness?

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Skype, which has become my primary means of communicating with anyone not standing directly in front of me, has updated to version 2.7.0.257 with improvements, changes and a very, very long list of bugfixes.

I’m happy, possibly even thrilled, about an alleged improvement in video stability. If you’ve ever used the video features, you’ve probably noticed that, in numerous scenarios, Skype prefers to show up more in your crash logs than on your desktop. I haven’t had a chance to fully test out the video portion of this update and the release notes simply refer to it as “improved stability”, so I’m hoping for the best.

The 20+ bugfixes, by and large, deal mostly with errors I haven’t run into and one grammatical correction to a dialog. Oh, and they fixed the language name for Belarusian, which could potentially appease 9,081,102* people.

Fewer crashes and proper grammar are tantalizing but, as is usually the case, I find the API additions to be the most exciting. The Skype API is AppleScript-able and fairly comprehensive. This update adds more interface access, new voicemail features, and a few intriguing looking options which I’ll just have to play with to understand.

It would be nice if the updater built into Skype actually did what the name implies, but for now you’ll have to head for the web page and get it yourself. Be sure to check out the release notes.

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From The Orlando Sentinel

Imagine the ride of the future, featuring the hottest theme-park trends and technologies: As a laser-guided, indoor-ride car moves forward, a robotic arm makes the seats rise and fall, swivel left and right, and spin, so that riders might feel as though they are flying with all the freedom of a butterfly.

The space they fly through is mostly dark but aglow with digital video images that appear three-dimensional and different to every rider, with high-definition theatrical sounds and other special effects making a storybook environment. The riders don’t just fly through the story, they work devices that let them choose their experience, alter their movements, and interact with the images.

For the next round of attractions coming to Orlando –SeaWorld’s new water park, Aquatica, due this spring; Walt Disney World’s next big ride, Toy Story Mania, due this summer; and Universal Orlando’s new attractions area, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, due next year — theme park executives are not offering many details. But they are setting up high expectations.

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After a long time away, we are back with “Mac App of The Day” with our first app being a recently discovered one called “xGrab”. xGrab is an amazing application that grabs a recording of your screen in the background. It has a various choice of resolutions to choice from. This application is great for those who would like to create tutorials of something. Go ahead and check it out, below are some pictures and hopefully a small video of the application at work. (Pictures after the jump)

You can find a download of this at there official website. This application comes is fully functional except you can only record for 30 seconds, after that the cost is $18.00( Estimated) to keep it running.

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February 13th
1930:
Autumn, the third 4 seasons Symphony is released. It is
directed by Ub Iwerks and released through Columbia Pictures.
1957:
The Disneyland television series airs “Tricks of Our Trade.”
1959:
The TV series Walt Disney Presents airs “Duck Flies Coop.”
1965:
Disney’s combination live-action and animated Freewayphobia, featuring Goofy, is released.
1973:
A Valentine Dance (sponosred by the WDW Recreation Club) is
held for Disney World Cast Members at the Contemporary
Hotel’s Ballroom of the Americas.
1976:
Animator John Lounsbery, one of Walt’s original “Nine Old Men” who is still a studio employee, passes away at St. Joseph’s Hospital in California (across from the Disney Studio). His work for Disney included Pinocchio, Dumbo, Melody Time, and Robin Hood.
1985:
Mickey Mouse, accompanied by Disneyland’s Ambassador, Melissa Taylor, begin a 30-day flight around the world, celebrating Disneyland’s 30th anniversary.
1988:
Expo Robotics (located in CommuniCore West) debuts at
EPCOT’s Future World.
1993:
Lumiere’s Kitchen restaurant opens in Fantasyland at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
1996:
Epcot’s Test Track Preview Center opens.
1998:
Animator Jules Engel, who worked on Disney’s Fantasia, is awarded the “Friz” lifetime achievement award for animation at the 1998 Santa Clarita International Film Festival. Founder of the experimental-animation program at CalArts in 1970 (where he taught for over thirty years) Engel helped develop the cartoon character Mr. Magoo.
1999:
Winnie the Pooh, a Valentine for You airs on ABC-TV.
2000:
As part of the 45th anniversary celebration, The Disneyland Resort introduces a new Pin Trading Program.
Also, the “45 Years of Magic Parade” has its first public preview at Disneyland. Two shows, one during the day and one at night, are performed. (The parade will make its official debut on February 18.)
2002:
It is announced at the Chandler Mansion set from “All My Children: in ABC Soap Opera Bistro” at Disney’s California Adventure, that ABC Super Soap Weekends will take place in April 2002. There will be 3 weekends (much like the ones that for several years have taken place at the Disney-MGM Studios in Florida) devoted to popular daytime dramas aired on ABC-TV. Actor Walt Willey (who plays Jackson McGomery on “All My Children”), actresses Linda Dano (who portrays Ray Cummings on “One Life To Live”) and Nancy Lee Grahn  (who plays Alexis Davis on “General Hospital”) all take part in the morning announcement.
2004:
Disneyland hosts a Friday the 13th ceremony to light up the marque of the new Tower of Terror. The event, which includes a screaming contest, is hosted by comedian Gallagher.
(The new attraction will open in May.)
2007:
Danielle Day and her family from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan spend
the night inside Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom. The first
time Disney World visitors are the first Canadian family to ever win
a night’s stay as part of the unique Disney Dreams Giveaway.
2008:
Disney releases Discs of Tron on Xbox Live Arcade. The game, based on the 1982 film Tron, allows players to face off against the evil Sark.

In case you’re not clued into the developer’s loop when it comes to all things Android, you might not be aware that there’s a brand-spanking-new version of the SDK out right now, replete with new apps, a new skin, and tightened-up functionality. In fact, it’s almost like a whole new OS. Keep your eyes on us, as we’re whipping up an in-depth gallery so you can get a taste of what’s to come from the Google camp.

[Via HelloAndroid]

According to the Apple discussion forums, some users are experiencing problems on there iPhone LCD displays where “bubbles” appear. Sources say that these bubbles expand inside the screen, causing other parts of the phone to get damaged. Apple has stated that they will replace any iPhone that has this problem because it is admired as a “manufactures”defect. Let us know if you are experiencing this problem as well.

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