Continue reading Now Playing: December 14-20, 2009

Now Playing: December 14-20, 2009 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read More... [Source: Joystiq]

There are many elements that contribute to the perfect holiday meal. A beautifully set table, good wine, the guests and for many families, the beef rib roast has become part of the tradition. It can be daunting to figure out how to select, and cook a good roast.

Really the first step to a good meal is to start with the best ingredients. This is just as important with meat as it is with fresh fruits and vegetables. Lobel's of New York is an old fashioned family owned butcher shop that has been serving the city with the finest meat for over 50 years. They along with other purveyors such as Dean and Deluca, recently winning the Luxist Reader's Choice Award for Best Online Gourmet Food, have made it easy to have quality meat delivered to your doorstep.

Not only will Lobel's send you the perfect piece of meat but they have many suggestions on their web-site to help you pick and prepare the perfect roast. Their tips include:

• To estimate the size of roast you will need by weight, rather than number of ribs, as the size of the eye varies and will affect the final size of your roast. They suggest 1 -1 1/4lbs per person. (see Lobel's chart here)
• To think ahead about the size of your roasting pan. An average dry-aged beef rib bone is approximately 2 inches in length. Do the math ahead of time to make sure your roast will fit in your pan.
• Bring the roast to room temperature before roasting.
• To use an instant read thermometer to test for doneness but to not poke your roast full of holes! You want to keep the juices in the meat. Wait until you are close to the estimated cooking time before you start to test. (see Lobel's chart here)
• Let your roast sit for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Lobel's offers several types of rib roasts, including Dry-Aged Waygu bone-in roasts which range in price from $359.98 for a 4lb roast to $1259.98 for a 14lb roast that comes with complementary horseradish and cream sauce. The USDA Prime Dry-Aged roasts run from $115.98 to $405.98 for the same sizes.

Dean and Deluca will ship you either a frozen or fresh 5 bone 9.9lb rib roast for $275.00 from their exclusive supplier Brandt Beef. A perfectly cooked version is pictured above.

Filed under: Dining

How to Select and Cook The Perfect Holiday Rib Roast originally appeared on Luxist on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More... [Source: Luxist]

GamesIndustry.biz reports that the DS has officially exceeded 10 million units sold in the UK. The revelation comes courtesy of data from European number crunchers GfK Chart-Track and, according to Nintendo, the handheld is currently owned by one out of every six UK residents. Of course, there's no telling how many people have purchased more than one of the console's many, many iterations. Still, the DS has managed to reach the 10 million mark faster than the PS2 did, just shy of five years since the handheld launched in March 2005.

We've been holding this back for a while now, but it's probably time to just come out and say it: It looks like the DS is a success.

Nintendo DS exceeds 10 million units in the UK originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read More... [Source: Joystiq [Nintendo]]

In our weekly Web Faceoff series, we place opposing social media tools and products into the hands of you, the readers, to determine which one deserves to come out on top. Some of our past competitions were between search engines, wireless networks, browsers and Twitter clients.

Yet while past editions of the Web Faceoff series have featured direct competitors, this week’s battle explored the rapid changes that mobile has brought to gaming. Specifically, the question we posed to you is this: Are the iPod touch and iPhone better for mobile gaming than stewards Nintendo DS and Sony PSP?

As even Apple has stated, the iPhone App Store contains far more games than either the PSP or the DS, are significantly cheaper, and utilize the unique and versatile iPhone OS touchscreen interface. But was that enough to secure your vote?

After nearly 2,000 votes, The iPod touch and iPhone have come out on top. In one of our closest polls yet, Apple’s mobile devices secured 704 votes (36 percent) while the Sony PSP gathered 639 votes (33 percent) and the DS earned the confidence of 482 people (25 percent).

While nobody was able to secure a majority, the sheer fact that the iPhone and iPod touch have grown so fast as legitimate gaming platforms should alarm Nintendo and Sony. Could we see a major change of the guard in the mobile gaming space soon? Will Nintendo and Sony still be major players, or will Apple continue to make inroads and change the game? We want to know what you think in the comments.

Who would win in a fight: Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, or the iPhone/iPod Touch?(online surveys)

Web Faceoff: Overall Results

Week 1:

- Mozilla Firefox vs. Google Chrome

- WINNER: Firefox, 4600 votes (Chrome: 3310 votes, Tie: 911 votes)

Week 2:

- Tumblr vs. Posterous

- WINNER: Tumblr, 1809 votes (Posterous: 1496 votes, Tie: 256 votes)

Week 3:

- Pandora vs. Last.fm

- WINNER: Last.fm, 1187 votes (Pandora: 1156 votes, Tie: 122 votes)

Week 4:

- Twitter vs. Facebook

- WINNER: Facebook, 2484 votes (Twitter: 2061 votes, Tie: 588 votes)

Week 5:

- WordPress vs. Typepad

- WINNER: WordPress, 2714 votes (Typepad: 267 votes, Tie: 357 votes)

Week 6:

- Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard

- WINNER: Windows 7, 3632 votes (Snow Leopard: 3278 votes, Tie: 121 votes)

Week 7:

- TweetDeck vs. Seesmic Desktop

- WINNER: TweetDeck, 3294 votes (Seesmic Desktop: 1055 votes, Tie: 260 votes)

Week 8:

- Microsoft Office vs. Google Docs

- WINNER: Microsoft Office, 1365 votes (Google Docs: 994 votes, Tie: 315 votes)

Week 9:

- Apple iPhone vs. Google Android

- WINNER: Google Android, 3323 votes (Apple iPhone: 1494 votes, Tie: 228 votes)

Week 10:

- AT&T vs. Verizon

- WINNER: Verizon, 1161 votes (AT&T: 538 votes, Tie: 118 votes)

Week 11:

- Google vs. Bing

- WINNER: Google, 2180 votes (Bing: 519 votes, Tie: 97 votes)

Week 12:

- iPod Touch/iPhone vs. Nintendo DS vs. Sony PSP

- WINNER: iPod Touch/iPhone, 704 votes (Sony PSP: 639 votes, Nintendo DS: 482 votes)

Reviews: App Store, Bing, Chrome, Facebook, Firefox, Google, Google Docs, Pandora, Posterous, Seesmic Desktop, Tumblr, TweetDeck, Twitter, TypePad, WordPress, iPhone

Tags: gaming, iphone, iPod Touch, Nintendo, nintendo ds, sony, Sony PSP, web faceoff

Read More... [Source: Mashable!]

What we're watching tonight:

• Fox (720p) has Dollhouse at 8 p.m.
• MyNetworkTV (720p) has WWE: Smackdown at 9 p.m.
• ABC (720p) has Ugly Betty at 9 p.m.
• TLC (1080i) has Say Yes to the Dress at 9 p.m. and Four Weddings at 10 p.m.
• Starz (1080i) airs Crash at 10 p.m.
• Syfy (1080i) has Sanctuary at 10 p.m.
• ESPN (720p) has an NBA doubleheader with Blazers/Cavaliers at 8 p.m. and Magic/Suns at 11 p.m.
• ESPN2 (720p) has William & Mary/Villanova college football at 8 p.m.

HDTV Listings for December 11, 2009 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read More... [Source: Engadget HD]

As part of its relaunch, Japanese publisher Sunsoft announced that it has purchased the rights to the entire 100-plus game library of Nihon Telenet. Even if you're not familiar with the name, you probably remember the games (most of which were published by Renovation) and their (at the time) exotic-looking anime-style covers. Telenet was the creator of the Valis series, along with action titles like El Viento, shmups like Sol-Deace and Gaiares, and the Cosmic Fantasy RPG series.

Sunsoft will begin releasing classics from the library on the Wii Virtual Console and other services -- and then it will start producing remakes and new installments. This could finally be our chance for that non-pornographic Valis sequel we've been waiting for!

Gaijinworks - the new company started by Working Designs' Victor Ireland - has been working with Sunsoft on the company's relaunch and is named as instrumental in this deal. Working Designs' history with Telenet goes back to 1992, when the company agreed to publish Telenet's Cosmic Fantasy 2.

Sunsoft acquires Telenet game catalog (think: Valis, Cosmic Fantasy) originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read More... [Source: Joystiq [Nintendo]]

Filed under: Action

A lot of folks thought we might get an official announcement of Star Wars Battlefront 3 at last night's Video Game Awards. But the action game sequel, still not officially announced by publisher LucasArts, might still be in play. Fan site Battlefront3.net claims they got an email from a casting director Chris Marazzo who told them, " . . . Battlefront 3 is also in development. It was by far the most fun and coolest casting I ever worked on."

The first two games in the Battlefront series, developed by the now shut down Pandemic Studios, were highly successful in terms of sales. Free Radical Design was supposedly working on Battlefront 3 but LucasArts is rumored to have pulled the game from the developer last year. The developer was close to shutting down before being acquired by Crytek.

Rumor: Star Wars Battlefront 3 still in play? originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read More... [Source: Big Download Blog]