The rumors are flying today about changes to the availability of hardware configurations for the Xbox 360. These rumors are due to a “leaked” company memo sent out to a few retailers making some statements and implications of changes to come.

For starters, we’ve seen fairly impressive evidence that the Xbox 360 Pro will see a price drop to $299 starting this Sunday. In addition, an email spells out some plans for later this year starting with an 60GB Xbox 360 Pro game console being introduced yet this month, and later on implying that the 20GB console will reach its “end of life” yet this year, likely replaced by this 60GB to accommodate more and bigger Xbox Live games.

Turtle Beach has a new pair of surround headphones for the Xbox 360. It’s pretty nice looking. It offers a wireless connection to the 360 and doubles as an Xbox Live communicator so you can talk smack during multiplayer games.

It delivers full Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic II surround decoding, plus standard optical digital and analog stereo inputs, so you can connect to other AV sources. It will cost you $200 and it’s shipping now.

While those of us in the U.S. are still waiting patiently, Australia and New Zealand have discounted Xbox 360 pricing across the board. An update to the Aussie Xbox site shows a new starting price of $349 Australian dollars for the Xbox 360 Arcade (which sold for $399 yesterday). Interestingly, that makes it $50 cheaper than the Wii in Australia. They better secure their Kangaroos, stop wrestling with alligators and get to the store quick.

Xbox exec, Jeremy Hilton confirmed that the Xbox 360 Pro bundle has also been slashed. It’s now $499 (was $579) and the Elite is now $649 (was $729). You might think this bodes well for some price cuts here in the U.S. as well, but check out this qoute regarding their strange pricing strategy: “One of the big changes Microsoft has made is that with price drops, you’d see the US would drop, and pretty much within two weeks we would drop as well. Now, it’s very much the individual countries who manage what they feel would be best for their respective regions. In March we had a price drop in Europe, and in April we had a price drop in Asia. So we’re definitely moving away from that big global strategy.”

You might think that a 360 degree camera and lens is a novelty that few users would be interested in, but Olympus is betting that surveillance and security big-wigs will be all over this, since it captures images anything and everything. It shoots in all directions, with not 10, not 5, but just one lens. It will take a 360-degree horizontal image with a 180-degree vertical view, wasting no footage on feet and ceilings. Olympus isn’t saying when it would ship, but I’m guessing casinos and other surveillance type environments can’t wait to try it out. Video conferencing would be great using this camera since the camera can pinpoint the speaker and capture them in a perfect picture without any panning.

While most of you are still addicted to the original Rock Band, Harmonix is already looking toward the future at what else they can put in your home. That’s why they’re getting official with Rock Band 2 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The Xbox 360 will be launching in September and the PS3 version will follow later in the year. Of course, with a new Rock Band, you’ll be getting new instruments, like this Fender Stratocaster.

Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to use your current gear if you have it all decked out in stickers and such, or if you want to save a few bucks. Looks like you’ll also be able to carry over all your downloaded content as well as being able to download and play new tracks on Rock Band 1 once Rock Band 2 is available.

If you are the type that is a perennial speeder you probably already have a radar detector in your car. Not all radar detectors are created equal and if you have an older one you know how each time you drive by a Wal-Mart it goes off.

Escort is one of the top names in radar detectors and its Passport line has a new item called the 9500ix. This radar detector has the 360-degree protection from radar and laser speed detectors. In addition to the standard radar and laser detection the 9500ix also has a GPS-enabled database for speed cameras.

A forum user on High-Def Digest posted a scan from next week’s K-Mart weekly circular ad and it shows a price drop of $50 on the Xbox 360 Premium. Yes, the $299 price you see still includes a 20GB hard drive.

The timing of this apparent price drop seems to sync up with whatever announcements Microsoft will have at E3. The rumors on that front include a price drop or a newer version with more storage. The scan makes no mention of price adjustments for the ‘Arcade’ or ‘Elite’ models, but we expect they will be adjusted.

Maxtor is betting your home network is bursting at the seams with data needing back up support and is therefore unveiling a new home NAS solution. It is called the Maxtor Central Axis and you’ll find it pricing at around $330.

The Maxtor Central Axis offers you a generous 1TB of NAS storage to fill with your travel photos and MP3s. The drive allows for each computer in the home to be automatically backed up and files can be accessed and stored from both Mac OS X and Windows operated PCs.

Here’s another look into a possible future where hair dye and colored wigs and gadgets go hand and hand. Yesterday we told you about the 2010 Wii. Well, here’s another item from T3. This one sports a dame with pink hair and big…dreams, if you’re interested in clicking through to see.

It’s an XBox 360 and a Zunephone in one compact package that leaves us drooling. But you know how it goes. Unfortunately, there is no real Zune phone. It’s going to have to remain in fantasy land, where brightly haired babes play with them.

Is your Xbox 360 too loud? Is it hot and just too compact for you? The Lian-Li PC-XB01 case mod will let you rest easy. The case is like a silencer for the disc drive thanks to sound-proofing foam. It also has great airflow to keep things chill via a 120mm fan or optional water cooling system.

And if you like a console that’s got some extra cushion for the button pushin’, this case is about four times the size of the 360. No pricing yet, but it should be available this August.

Let’s say you’re in love with Halo, but always on the go. There’s gotta be some way to get your game on. If only you had a convenient Xbox laptop. Ben Heck is probably to busy to make you one, but you may be in luck. For $550, a shop in Kansas called Portable Gaming Solutions says that they will convert your 360 into a suitcase-sized 15-inch laptop with keyboard and speakers.

It might be taking a chance sending your Xbox to him, but hey we all have to start somewhere. The web site has some images and videos of the mod, so it’s probably cool. We hope. Would anyone take the chance and send their console? I don’t know, but I wish him luck. It may not be the most stylish mod, but I guess it gets the job done. Check out the video below.

Check out these awesome T-shirts from errorwear. They have a pretty nice assortment of OS and system errors T-shirts, including some from Windows NT4, Windows 2K/XP, Windows 95/98, XBox 360, Sad Mac, Broken image, 404 error Apache server, 404 ISS server, Not Responding and more.

The Blue Screen Of Death T-Shirt actually looks pretty awesome, um, filled out like that. That’s an error I don’t mind at all. Be sure to also look into the Pac-Man 256 level screen T-shirt. Good stuff.

Most of you have heard the rumors about a touchpad on the new guitar, well now we get to see it for real. IGN previewed the new gear, and they say that the strip will be used for notes during sustains, tapping to play notes, and interfacing with the new music creator.

Interestingly, the guitar is larger than those that have come before it. Back to the drums. They’re pressure sensitive, with a plain jane mic, and the music creation software is apparently very awesome. Sadly, you can’t record vocals for songs though. The Wii version of the game will have all of the same features, which is good news for Wii owners.

Here’s a little something for all of you special ladies who email me sweet nothings, trying to charm the latest girl-tech out of me. Estée Lauder and Lancôme will soon be launching vibrating mascaras that require batteries and provide women and cross-dressers a way to cover more ground than you can now.

Estée Lauder will launch the TurboLash All Effects Motion Mascara for $30 at Saks Fifth Avenue, which has 125 micropulses-per-second. Lancôme has the Ôscillation, which will give you “a 360-degree coat around each and every lash” when it launches in the fall. Can it vibrate while closed? I’m not sure, but that certainly would be a selling point.

We first told you about Microsoft’s plans at Wii emulation back in April. Here’s some new info on their own version of Nintendo’s Miis. Xbox 360 Fanboy found the above Flash document on Intellisponse’s servers. (an online research and web-survey platform)

Is it just for survey purposes or not? I’m thinking it’s beyond the survey stage as it fits with what we’ve been hearing. That Microsoft will be rolling their Miis out by the end of the year, hopefully with their own Wii-mote that has all the bugs worked out.