This past Saturday, a brave group of Giz readers braved 90 degree heat followed by raging thunderstorms to hang out in Coney Island, drink some beers and watch some totally inept minor league baseball. It was awesome.

Sure, we all got caught in what felt like the storm of the century right when we entered the ballbark. No big deal. Everyone ended up sprinting next door to Peggy O'Niells for some pitchers of beer and some of the most difficult to eat cheese dogs we've ever seen. Eventually, the rain let up, the game started, and we enjoyed our seats near first base while discovering just why the members of the Coney Island Cyclones are on a minor league team: they suck.

It was great to put faces to commenter names, even if it was kind of weird calling people by real names when you just want to call them, say, 92buicklesabre. Everybody was really cool, and despite whatever expectations I might have had, there was not a single socially awkward geek to be found. Sure, there were plenty of geeks, but all of them were more than personable. Thanks to Nokia's Ovi share system and the N95 they lent us, you can see the pictures we took during the meetup and uploaded to the site above.

At the end of the night, we handed out a bunch of fun swag from Nerf, Razer and Steelseries, making plans to hang out again and see the Dark Knight. We'll definitely have another NYC meetup of some sort in the future, but probably at a bar in Manhattan so more people can make it.

Oh, and OMG! Ponies and Kaiser-Machead, who both promised to show up and then didn't? You're both banned.

Are any of our readers sporting Mylo 2s? If so, carrying that smartphone-sans-phone is finally starting to pay off as today's firmware update brings video recording. There's other stuff too—16GB Memory Stick and general UI improvements—but the video is the big upgrade. Just stick with that Mylo 2 a little longer and who knows what good things will come of it? [Sony]

Pleo, the robot dinosaur loved by everyone—except dogs and blogs—is celebrating its first birthday a little early by going on sale for $235. Head over to Ugobe's store from now til July 11 and use semi-creepy coupon code PLEOWORLDISONE, and the dino can be yours for a cool $115 less than usual. Whether you teach Pleo the joy of Christmas or how to be robot food is up to you. [Pleo via Shiny Shiny]

Just as MSI saw the opportunity to create a Eee of their own with the Wind, so too will they create an Eee Box with their Wind mini-desktop. The internals will be very similar between each version of the Wind, with the desktop featuring the same 1.6Ghz Atom processor and 35W power supply as the laptop, along with Windows XP, 1GB of RAM (expandable to 2), DVD (burner?), up to 160GB of storage and Wi-Fi. Priced between $199 and $299, the Wind mini-desktop is not slated for a US release when it hits this September...but were the Eee Box a huge success in the States, it wouldn't be crazy for that to change. [infoworld]

Any fans of Rock Band in the audience? I said, ARE THERE ANY FANS OF ROCK BAND IN THE AUDIENCE??? YEAAHHH!!!!!!! Rock Band 2 is on the way. Here are the full details, along with a picture of the new guitar.

1, Better Hardware



According to Harmonix: "Quieter, more realistic, and more reliable instruments"

2. Third Party Hardware



"We're also actively welcoming new peripheral makers to make instruments for our game. Just like real instruments, we want players to be able to choose what instruments they use..."

3. Backwards Compatibility



Songs you purchased for RB1 will work for RB2. Future RB songs will work for both games.

4. More Meaning

"We have several new modes that not only provide new ways for you to experience your music library, but also new ways for you to transition from Expert to real instruments.:

Jason Chen and I will bring you more when the game is more officially unveiled at E3 in July. Until then, who out there is kicking themselves for buying the "Louder, less realistic and less reliable instruments?" [IGN via Kotaku]

Asus is working on a couple of new Eee PCs, the 904 and 905, say sources of DigiTimes. The models take the 8.9" screen from the 900 and 901 and mash it up with the bigger keyboard on the Eee 1000, which doesn't seem like a very good idea to us because the mini-notebook appeal is precisely its compact size. The new models may replace the current 900 series line entirely, but that, along with potentially increased battery life and storage capacity, is still up in the air. The price, however, are expected to remain the same. [DigiTimes]

I like this Life Clock. What makes it for me is not the fact that you can do it yourself using Arduino components—the open-source electronics prototyping platform—or that it can tell you the temperature and play Conway's life on its own. No, what makes it all come together is the simple wood design and the use of 60s sci-fi spaceship computer lights. [Make]

The Maxx Digital PDV-8500BLK is a) a portable DVD with a 8.5

It may not be crazy high-tech architecture, but there's something about this Chilean home hanging over the Pacific—the breathtaking views, the clean design—that has me glued to the screen with a mixed feeling of complete awe, peace, and envy.

Divided in three floors, Casa 11 Mujeres (House 11 Women, named like that because it was designed for a family with 11 daughters, ages four to twenty) was built with bare concrete with wood floors, glass, and steel on a 45 degree slope looking down Cachagua beach, 87 miles north of Santiago de Chile. The bottom floor contains shared spaces, while the second level has the daughters bedrooms—all overlooking the sea—, and the top floor has the master bedroom, kitchen, living room, and dining room.

I don't know about the 11 daughters part, but sign me up for the rest. [Dezeen]

At last it's here: in-game crossbar menubar in the PlayStation 3. Sony's Eric Lempel says it's coming "very soon" as part of PS3 Firmware v.2.40, and in the meantime he teases PS3 fans with its features, as well as the other new functions like the Google Search Bar or Trophy system.

It is pretty easy to work with: click at any time on the PlayStation button and XMB will pop up on top of the game you are playing. From there you can do anything you can normally do in the main crossbar: read and send messages online, change games, activate your Bluetooth set, or change the game music soundtrack to your favorite music playlist. According to Eric, it will work in "the majority of games." [Playstation Blog]