WiFi thermostat puts power (and cooling) at your fingertips

Ecobee's WiFi-enabled thermostat lets you change your home's temperature far from home, as well as find out if it's freezing or flooding. Smart grid not required.

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NASA regains contact with Mars spacecraft

NASA's Phoenix Mars spacecraft regained contact with Earth more than a day after falling silent, but its days operating on the red planet are still numbered, mission managers said Thursday.

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Venus and the Moon to Treat or Trick

Venus and the moon will deliver a Halloween treat visible this evening just as little ghosts and goblins head out to gather candy. Or, if your skies are cloudy, it'll just be an invisible cosmic trick. If skies are clear, look to the west just as the sun sets - Venus, the brightest "star" in the sky will hover just above slender crescent moon.

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Obama Spent $44.5K on In-Game Advertising

For weeks now, Obama has been running in-game ads in games such as Burnout Paradise for the 360 across 10 battleground states. The full campaign started on October 6, runs through November 3, and spans a reported 18 games. According to the Obama campaign's pre-general-election filing with the Federal Election Commission, he spent $44,500 in games.

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Guitar Hero World Tour Ad w/ Phelps Bryant A-Rod & Hawk

Will this multimillion dollar ad sell more copies than Rock Band?

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Beatles Coming To Rock Band

Press releases titled "Apple Corps Ltd. and MTV to Announce Exclusive Agreement to Develop Unprecedented Global Music Project.” sparked speculation that the Beatles are coming to Rock Band.

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Who would you vote for — Mario or Luigi?

"From 'Spore' to 'Second Life,' games give players a political voice." An inside look at the direct relationship between gaming and politics.

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Wii couldn't even handle RE 5's intro screen

We all would love to see Resident Evil 5 on the Wii. But, according to the game's producer, Masachika Kawata, the Wii couldn't even handle the graphics of the game's introductory screen.

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Microsoft Doubles Reward for Missing Xbox Gamer

Software company Microsoft has doubled a cash reward for information on the whereabouts of a Canadian boy who ran away from home after his father took away his Xbox game console.

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Nintendo says ‘We’ve never neglected core gamers’

General Manager of Nintendo UK David Yarnton has told MCV that the platform holder has “never lost its passion for core gamers”. Yarnton reassured fans that new ‘hardcore’ Nintendo games were being developed.

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New PSP Media Manager Integrates With the PlayStation Store

Just in case you are one of the few that have actually used the PSP Media Manager, you might be interested in knowing that a new update grants access to the PlayStation Store through the PC. It also helps out with syncing your music, photos and other digital content.

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Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle Sign On for The Avengers

Marvel Entertainment has just announced that Robert Downey Jr and Don Cheadle have signed on for both Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau will also executive produce The Avengers.

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PS3 Making Money, PSP Sales Up, PS2 Outselling PS3

Sony, as a company, is not in good shape. Global financial crisis will do that to a company. But hey, least it's not the gaming division's fault! While the company as a whole has seen profits drop by an incredible 90%, sales are up (for the most part) across Sony's gaming hardware range, with the PS3 selling 2.43 million consoles over the 3 months.

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Weekly MotorStorm 2 DLC Planned, "A Lot of It Is Free."

Game Director Nigel Kershaw has confirmed plans to deliver weekly DLC to MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, promising that "a lot of it is free". The game's just hit US stores today, so it's rest time for the team, before getting to work on DLC. "Once we're all rested its back to the development bunker to finish off the DLC we have lined up."

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PS Home Hacked, The Search For Backup Exploits Begins

Hackers, like life, will find a way. Sony knows that all too well thanks to the PSP, but so far the PlayStation 3 has stood strong in the face of legions of nerds trying to find a way to exploit it.

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GTA IV DLC could be a zombie outbreak!

Last we heard, Microsoft confirmed the exclusive GTA IV DLC for this fall. The quarantine posting (full text on Joystiq) has sparked some speculation that the DLC could be tied to Eugenics' mess. Namely, a potential zombie outbreak! With art assets already in place, what's to stop Rockstar from turning GTA IV into a "28 Days Later" scenario?

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Adults give Uzi to 8-year-old, who shoots and kills himself

An event at a Massachusetts gun club turned tragic today when an 8-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the head and later died. "Witnesses state that he was shooting the weapon down range when the force of the weapon made it travel up and back toward his head, where he suffered the injury," the police statement read.

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Restaurant closed after dead deer found in kitchen

Health officials shut down a suburban Buffalo restaurant after an inspector found employees butchering a dead deer inside the business. Erie County Health Department officials said they got a tip Friday about a dead deer in the China King restaurant in the town of Hamburg, just south of Buffalo.

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Just another cover band? Ars reviews Guitar Hero World Tour

Activision Blizzard hits back at Rock Band with a fun, competent rhythm game filled with great equipment, but will it be enough to unseat standard-setter Rock Band? Ars reviews Guitar Hero: World Tour.

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