Reach

Time to learn German for Wednesday's tech news roundup:

NEW YORK--Facebook is on a tear ahead of its IPO. Today here at fMC, its first-ever marketing conference, it announced a number of features to help brands better engage with their audiences.

The social network hopes to drive advertisers away from broadcasting static messages, instead encouraging them to build dynamic conversational marketing pieces. While conversational media isn't exactly a new concept (companies like Federated Media have been doing it for years), the scale and personality that Facebook adds is unprecedented.

The goal as planned is for brands to be perceived as people who engage in meaningful dialogs. While many … Read more

If you're clinging to flotsam in the middle of the Pacific and need to send an emergency message, DeLorme has a rugged new satellite communicator that can do the job on the cheap.

Its InReach device is a two-way satellite hookup with GPS that lets you send messages from anywhere in the world for as little as $249.95 and a subscription with Iridium's global network from $9.95 monthly.

Used alone, the InReach can send an SOS or up to three preset messages, as well as remote-tracking data; it confirms delivery too. Users can designate recipients such as other InReach devices, e-mail addresses, or Facebook or Twitter accounts before they set out for northern Siberia. … Read more

On today's preGame, we'll be screening the teaser-trailer for Inversion, a game set to hit consoles in February 2012. So why all the excitement now? Let's just say the live-action trailer leaves us with a few unanswered questions.

Next we'll take a look at the technology behind the next installment of the SOCOM franchise in SOCOM 4. Find out how the game attempts to max out the PlayStation 3 and how development made PlayStation Move a major factor in the title's creation.

Jeff will then take a look at WWE All Stars for Xbox 360 … Read more

Lexus is partnering with online gaming service Xbox Live to promote its new 2011 Lexus CT 200h hybrid hatchback by giving away Microsoft Points to lucky gamers. To be eligible to win, users must log on to the Xbox Live service, download the free Lexus All-Nighter Gamer Picture, and then just play Halo: Reach on the night of Saturday, December 18. According to Lexus, the longer you play, the better your odds of winning will be. Of course, that means that people who play all night long will have the best chance of snagging a prize.

Every hour between 6 … Read more

ErrorZilla Mod is a free extension for Mozilla's Firefox Web browser that updates the domain access error page. It's basically the venerable ErrorZilla extension, only with the old logo replaced by the Firefox logo. It also sports a series of buttons accessing various DomainTools utilities for diagnosing what went wrong when Web sites don't load. It downloads and installs like any Firefox add-on; essentially automatically, with nothing to configure.

If a cop is never around when you need one, try finding a Web page that won't load. Fortunately, we hoard bookmarks, and we found one that … Read more

The video game industry is still having a tough time shaking off the recession, NPD revealed in its September industry report.

According to the market researcher, overall U.S. game-related sales for the month reached $1.22 billion, representing an 8 percent decline compared with the $1.32 billion the industry generated in September 2009.

Hardware sales were down a whopping 19 percent from $427 million in September 2009 to $383 million last month. Physical game sales dropped by 6 percent from $649 million in September 2009 to $614 million last month.

NPD found that game accessories was the only … Read more

The other day the folks at Microsoft sent over a rather large, heavy box. Lo and behold, inside we found the Halo Reach Legendary Edition for the Xbox 360. And guess what? We're giving it away to one lucky person.

Microsoft says that this ultimate collector's item is "packed with content" from the Halo universe and features a 10-inch-tall commemorative statue of Noble Team created by the expert artisans at McFarlane Toys. How cool is that?

Normally, Halo Reach Legendary Edition would cost you a whopping $150, but we're giving one away gratis. So, how … Read more

In late August, Microsoft permanently banned a number of people who procured illegitimate copies of Halo: Reach and ill-advisedly played them on Xbox Live. Now, the Washington developer has slammed 15,000 players for exploiting the game's credit system.

According to a Bungie employee post on Bungie.net, the developer has reset credit tallies for 15,000 players who have "egregiously" exploited a credit rip-off. The post reads, "Specifically, we targeted an exploit that allowed players to complete a Challenge 20+ times via itentional [sic] network manipulation (i.e., disconnects)."

Bungie did not specify any … Read more