Todays & Tomorrows Technology

Logitech have announced their latest Guitar Hero peripheral, a wireless controller for the Xbox 360. Like the company’s existing guitar controller for PS2 and PS3, the new Xbox 360 version has a wood neck, rosewood fingerboard and metal frets.

The wireless technology is promised to be plug-and-play with the Xbox 360, while its range is quoted at up to 30 feet. The strum-bar and fret buttons are “virtually silent”, using the same technology as on Logitech’s keyboard range, and there’s a touch-sensitive slider on the neck.

Logitech’s Wireless Guitar Controller for Xbox 360 will launch in August in both the US and Europe, with an MRSP of $199.99. It’s licensed for use with all the Guitar Hero titles, including the World Tour version.

We'd be careful about putting too much stock into an admittedly far off rumor, but the gang at 1UP claim they've heard from those in the know that Microsoft's set to release a new Xbox console in Fall 2010, and that current media darling Project Natal is "the cornerstone" of that evolution. Specs-wise, it's suggested we're looking at only a marginal boost analogous to Nintendo's GameCube-to-Wii transition -- place your bets on how long it'll take to "max out" this time -- as well as a rebranding (Xbox Natal, anyone?) aimed at attracting the highly coveted, more mainstream / casual audience, before Mario and the crew catch a second wind with the oft-rumored Wii HD. There's nothing unbelievable about these whispers, but again, Fall 2010 is quite a ways off and anything can happen in the meantime. First unveiling will allegedly be the 2010 Game Developers Conference in early March, so your best bet for now is to hold tight and keep a close eye on who gets a primetime slot among that event's keynote speeches.

The Xbox 360 will be receiving some scheduled maintenance on June 16th. Xbox.com and Xbox Live will be shut down for a bit, but this will also make Netflix streaming to your Xbox 360 unusable for a period.

The maintenance period will start on June 16th at 12:01 a.m. and last until 11:59 p.m. PDT. Since you won’t be able to access Xbox LIVE or Xbox.com, the Netflix streaming function will be disabled as well.

Specifically, you won’t be able to log into your My Xbox section of the website. Plus, the Xbox forums will be locked for that period of time, meaning you can only read posts, not make new ones. This is merely a maintenance effort. No upgrades are expected.