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Microsoft Taking Orders for Second Gen Surface

Microsoft debuted its second generation of Surface at CES 2011 and is now taking orders for it. The new surface table will cost you a solid $8,400 which is quite lower than the previous price of $12,500 for the first generation Surface. The newer version of Microsoft Surface is manufacturered by Samsung Electronics which allowed for Microsoft to take better advantage of newer touch screen technology. The Samsung version of Microsoft Surface is also much more thin than the first generation version of Surface.

Bert and Ernie Come to Garmin GPS Units

Your favorite Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie are set to debut on your Garmin GPS unit. Bert and Ernie will amuse you with their crazy antics while trying to navigate you to your destination. The update package is $12.95 and is available at Garmin.com. The site also hints at the Cookie Monster coming soon.

Microsoft to Take Gaming to the Cloud with Xbox in the Future

Microsoft's Brian Prince at GDC China talked a little bit about the future of the Xbox. He ventured into the possibilities of cloud gaming and said that services like Gaikai and Onlive are the distant future of online gaming and the services have certain limitations. The drawbacks he was referring to is that the services are relying on big game or AAA titles  "typically these platforms focus on AAA PC game titles," he says. "If you're not in that space, they don't want to talk to you as much. Another problem is that your gamers need high speed internet access. That's fine if you live in a city, but most of America doesn't live in a city, for example."  Microsoft plans to use their Azure service to save game data and allow cross platform game resumes from the browser to console to PC. Cloud gaming is the obvious evolution to cloud gaming, however bandwidth usage and cost will definitely be an issue. Microsoft will likely have to strike deals with internet service providers to get around current bandwidth limitations to get the service off the ground. I am excited to see this come to the Xbox. Price does confirm that these services will exist in the future for the Xbox console. He even hints that he is working on it right now. What do you think? Would you play cloud games on a console?

Check out Helljumper, A Fan Made Halo Movie Series

A movie production studio Method Pictures teamed up with director Dan Wang to create Helljumper. Helljumper will be a first fan made Halo movie series which will debut in January 2012. From watching the trailer the movie doesn't look all that bad. The effects are just what you would expect for a fan made movie and can do nothing but get better as time progresses. Helljumper will chronicle the story of one Halo: ODST from before the Human-Covenant War to around the Fall of Reach within the Halo timeline. The movie will chronicle his 27 years of the losing battle against the covenant and his experiences with devastation. The full trailer is inside:

Kids React to Minecraft [Funny]

A popular YouTube channel called Kids React has created an episode on Minecraft. The episode shows kids a trailer of Minecraft and gauges their reaction to it. The video follows up with questions about what they think about Minecraft, the responses are amusing. These kids live sheltered lives. One kid even said it looks like Tetris... I guess I can see that, but come on. Although, some kids to recognize it as Minecraft.