For those of you that have been waiting on the new social networking features of the Xbox 360 to arrive, you’ll want to check out the hands-on overview of the new apps over at News.com. The new features are due to arrive on the Xbox 360 at some point in November and will feature integrations with Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm. Expect the Xbox Live Video Marketplace to also receive a slight overhaul as it will be called the Zune Marketplace. According to News.com, this follows Microsoft’s desire to make “Zune” their music and video brand.

Of the three social-networking features due to arrive on the Xbox 360, I have to say that the Last.fm one is the app with most functional appeal. Have a social function to hold at home or need some music playing in the background? Seems that Last.fm would be the perfect solution for those needs – simply start it up and let the music stream through to your Xbox 360 from the Net.

Don’t get me wrong of course – the Twitter and Facebook integrations are certainly interesting.. but if I want to check on my friend’s status, I’m more likely to do so on my iPhone or PC than on the Xbox 360. And yes.. Twitter/FB folks – expect many more useless status updates to hit the web once the Xbox 360 integration rolls out because clearly we all need to know that so-and-so is playing Call of Duty 4 right now on some particular map.

Joy..

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Xbox 360, Social Networking, News.com

Just a couple of minor updates before I forget. First off – just like Ubergizmo, we’ve updated our comment system to utilize the comment system provided by disqus.com. It’s certainly an interesting system and we’ll see over time how this all works out. Please let me know if you’re happy with the transition – hopefully this makes tracking comments and stories a tad bit easier.

Secondly, I’m also on Twitter so if you want to message me – just look me up on Twitter (krunker).

Technorati Tags: Disqus.com, Twitter.com

Interested in knowing more about the upcoming rollout of Facebook Chat? Check out this hands-on look at Facebook Chat over at Webware.com. The service is currently in beta and is slowly being rolled out to some networks on Facebook (The folks in the Harvard network are already getting this feature supposedly). Facebook Chat won’t be for everyone though. The app will work only within IE 7, Firefox 2.x, and Safari 2 on the PC, and Firefox 2, Safari 2, and Safari 3 on the Mac.

The real question is – will Facebook Chat improve user “stickiness” on Facebook? Maybe.. if at least in the beginning. As the article points out, it’ll certainly be great for users to easily reach out to old classmates or friends from far yonder. However, I also see the following happen:

You: “Hey – long time no chat!!! nice to see you here on Facebook!”

Friend: “Totally! It’s been forever!”

You: “Do you have AIM, Yahoo, MSN or Google Talk?”

Yes.. my point is – there’s just one too many chat clients out there. If Facebook were to enable support for third party instant messenger clients, then we’d be talking! (Facebook Chat would also be a major competitor to meebo too!)

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Facebook Chat

Remember when Orkut.com first came out? It was an invitation only social networking site from Google.. and well.. everyone eventually got onto it. Of course the invitation only service was to ensure that there wasn’t a flood of users hammering to be on it – they did eventually open the doors to everyone to join (and it sure seems like everyone in Brazil did indeed join!). Yet back then, Orkut seems somewhat exclusive. Well there’s an even more exclusive social networking site out there that you and I are pretty much guaranteed never to get into. It’s called the Diamond Lounge (www.diamondlounge.com) and it’s a site designed for the ultra-elite out there. That means the rich, the celebrities, people of notoriety etc.

AppScout.com did a quick look over at Diamond Lounge here and had this to say:

For those with the right net worth and/or interesting lifestyles (like me, obviously), Diamond Lounge might be worth checking out, especially as it continues to grow.

It’s certainly an interesting idea. Let’s think about it – as private as Facebook is, once you’re in.. you’re pretty much flooded with information from all of your “friends” – whether they really are your close friends or not (how many of us actually say “NO” to a friend request right?). At the end of the day – rich or poor, social networking sites like facebook and friendster level the playing field to who you know. A site like Diamond Lounge is TRULY about WHO YOU KNOW and ultimately WHO YOU ARE. If you qualify for membership, then you’ll get in (for a fee of course). Otherwise.. stand outside and gawk for a little bit!

Ironically enough – I did get a temporary invite to the site for review, but I didn’t know what to make of it at first. I might just ask them for temporary access for a review here at Krunker!

[Check it out via ExtremeTech]

Technorati Tags: Diamond Lounge, AppScount, Review