Of all the notebooks I have tired over the years it’s safe to say that 99.99% of the have crap sound systems. They sound flat, lack volume so you can actually hear what’s going on and have no bass. This is the reason there are some any different external speakers and headphone options around.

Logitech has announced a couple new laptop offerings called the Logitech Laptop Speaker Z305 and the Logitech Wireless Speaker Z515. Both speakers are aimed at notebook users with Mac or Windows machines. The Z515 is a wireless offering with a USB transmitter that uses 2.4GHz tech for 50-foot range. The speaker can also connect to the iPad or iPhone wirelessly as well.

The latest on Amazon is that the company is planning to expand its Video On Demand service into a flat-rate, unlimited service, according to insiders. The plan that was pitched to NBC, Time Warner, Viacom and others would provide unlimited access to at least “some” movies and TV shows.

The service would work over both the web and existing devices, like TiVo DVRs and the Xbox 360. One option may be to use a subscription as a perk for Amazon Prime, which already gives automatic two-day shipping upgrades for $79 per year. It might also focus on back catalog titles instead of newer ones to appease executives who are cautious about applying unlimited access to newer titles.

We heard some rumors this morning about Microsoft planning a new Xbox 360 controller. One with an improved D-pad. Sure enough we have some confirmation now. The new D-pad is a disc in it’s basic configuration, but give it a twist and it raises about a quarter-inch.

The analog sticks will be slightly more concave, and the ABXY buttons will be translucent monochrome. The new matte silver controller will only come bundled with the Play and Charge kit for $64.99 when it launches on November 9 in the States and replaces the existing wireless controller.

According to Joystiq, sometime this Holiday season, Microsoft will launch a new Xbox 360 controller with a unique d-pad. When you rotate the d-pad ninety degrees on this new controller, it will raise up about a quarter of an inch.

Apparently this is aimed at fighting game fans. We aren’t sure if it will be a separate, special controller or will replace the existing controller.

The Nokia C6-01 first showed up back in July, and aside from the 8-megapixel camera, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 360 x 640 pixel touchscreen display, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Ovi Maps, it looks like it has another trick.

It might run Symbian^3. A Bulgarian online retailer uploaded some photos of the C6-01 which showed off the Symbian^3 operating system. Now mysteriously, the photos have changed to show Symbian^1, so we aren’t sure exactly what is going on. Hopefully we will learn more soon.

Word is that Sony is considering an “online pass” program. Right now Sony already approves of third-party publishers like EA and THQ, charging used games buyers to play their games online, and according to Andrew House, president of Sony Europe, the company is actively seeking a similar solution for its first party titles.

House says “On the principle of making online portions of the game available or unlocked from the disc-based release for a fee, we’re broadly supportive of that,” How this will affect how people want to trade/sell their used games in the future is another issue entirely.

Halo Reach is one of the most anticipated games of the year for the Xbox 360. Now it has been leaked nearly a month ahead of its September 14th launch date. As you already know, Halo is one of the best selling game franchises for the console.

Game-tut.com allegedly managed to get a copy of the game from Microsoft’s servers and made it available for download through torrents. Gamers have already uploaded several videos on YouTube, if you want some spoilers. The official launch is September 14th.

We’ve seen plenty of painted and modded Xbox 360s in our day, even an Xbox 360 laptop, but until now we’ve never seen what Tony Stark’s Xbox 360 looks like.

And thanks to Zachariah Perry Cruse, we now know. It looks just like his armor. The design student spent his summer vacation creating his very own Iron Man Xbox 360. It’s not the slim 360 console, but it has a 120GB hard drive and an HDMI socket. Why not place a bid?

The upcoming 250GB Xbox 360 hard drive is now being offered for sale at GameStop for its $130 price. Oddly this comes ahead of any official announcement from Microsoft. The drive is an upgrade for the new, slim Xbox Arcade, which includes only 4GB of built-in storage.

To refresh your memory, the drive ships preloaded with the Hexic HD game as well as with demos of A Kingdom for Kefflings, Peggle and Pinball FX. It is said to be shipping within 24 hours of you placing the order.

Canon has been making its G series of digital cameras for a while now. These cameras are some of the more expensive point and shoot units you can buy and offer a lot of manual features. They are intended to sit in the gap between a normal digital camera and a DSLR.

A new camera from Canon called the G12 has leaked that should be getting official later this month according to rumors. What we know about it so far is that he camera has a 10MP CCD and a 5x optical zoon lens.

It’s kind of funny that Microsoft’s ad agency thought they could get away with showing PS3 Final Fantasy XIII scenes, but that is just what happened. A very savvy British viewer dimed them out to the Advertising Standards Authority and the commercial was quickly pulled following a comparison of gameplay between the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.

The ASA said that “we noted that there was a discernible difference in the picture quality of the two—the PS3 image in video sequences appeared sharper and colors were more vivid than those of the Xxbox 360.” Duh.

Microsoft’s new controller-free Kinect for the Xbox 360 will be hitting the US on November 4th. But what about Europe? Well, we’ve learned that it will officially hit Europe, the Middle East, and Africa on November 10th.

Sure, that’s quite a wait, but until then you still have your hands and plenty of titles to play. And just so you are aware, we’re looking at the same 15 exclusive Kinect game titles already announced at E3. Otherwise nothing new.

We are pretty sure Microsoft isn’t happy about this, but a video has surfaced which claims to have successfully patched the DVD drive to play burned discs on the new Xbox 360. The issue isn’t just about piracy though. Many Xbox users like to burn a backup copy of their game CDs in case the original disc gets damaged.

Even so, I’m sure microsoft will be on this quickly, trying to figure out a way to prevent the hack. The group behind the video(It can be found below) claims that the patch will be available soon, which is good news if you want to backup games for your new Xbox 360.

Fable fans, in addition to getting a third installment in the game will also be able to buy this gold limited edition Fable III Xbox 360 controller which is designed to look like the Crown of Albion. Now other players will be forced to call you your majesty while you mash buttons.

Release date is October 5th. That’s three weeks before the game arrives. Plus it comes with a token for downloading an exclusive in-game tattoo. |It will be priced at $59.99.

Technically video game consoles are banned in China, but of course you can still get one on the gray market. That means that most people won’t be able to get an Xbox 360 or the upcoming Kinect system. So a company from China is rolling out the eBox gaming console which is controller-free.

It looks like its a clone of the Kinect since it also uses a webcam-style device. We don’t know much more about it, but we do know it will come bundled with 30 or so games.