Hanging out at sites like Giz may have instilled in you an insatiable, pocket-emptying gadget habit. But now we're entering a new era—the old guys on the TV are saying that soon we may not even have pockets, let alone money for them. Don't panic though: You've probably got a wealth of gadgetry sitting underutilised in your living rooms, closets and basements, just waiting to be given powerful new (not exactly authorised) features. For free.

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Looks like its Update Day at Apple--the company just released Apple TV 2.2, which users can access through the "update software" menu option in Settings. The software revamp now includes support for features introduced in iTunes 8.0, including video playlists, Genius playlists and HDTV show purchasing, and plugs a couple of security holes as well. How's it playing, kids? Any problems? [Macrumors]

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We're not having any problems, but Ars has found many people complaining about the iPhone 2.0.2 update killing their ability to actually make calls over 3G. Among the people who suffer from no-calling-itis is one guy who took his phone to AT&T and had them swap out the SIM, which somehow fixed the problem. If you're getting "call failed" on 3G, try switching back to 2G in Settings -> General -> Network and making the call again. [Ars Technica]

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"Firmware update" sounds like something you'd want. Something solid, yet fresh and new. But lately deciding to update is getting more complicated. The newest firmware is no longer just a nice downloadable present from a benevolent electronics overlord; on many devices, it has been buggy or downright dangerous to install. Manufacturers like Apple, Nintendo and Sony are increasingly releasing firmware that disables functionality for business reasons—or that just make products worse by being halfbaked. Here is a rundown of firmware updates that weren't exactly beloved by users.

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It looks like the corporate goon who ordered all copies of Mad Magazine with a Circuit City parody inside destroyed was acting on her own. An "embarrassed corporate PR guy" has apologised to Mad Magazine and tried to make things right. Nice work, Circuit City. The letter of explination/apology in full, after the jump.

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Some leaky monkey at or near Microsoft has just dumped the new Xbox 360 Dashboard "Experience", also known as the fall update, onto the internet. For most of us, this means that that we've got new videos like the one above that illustrate some of the features we didn't get to see at E3. For people who have a hacked Xbox 360, it means they can actually install this and try it out for themselves, but risk brickage in the process. This reminds us of the story of the tortoise and the hare, except instead of animals you have super nerds that want to install stuff months too early. [Xhavok87 via Xbox Scene]

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A ROM update from Hong Kong for the HTC Touch Diamond released yesterday adds some fantastic functionality such as the use of the 850MHz GSM band (used by AT&T here in the US) and the improved TouchFLO 3D performance. (For the record, the performance update is great.) There are also a few bug fixes like the "no signal issue" and home page loading. Grab it at the links from XDA Devs. [XDA Devs]

Microsoft just made available the Power Pack 1 update for Windows Home Server, which fixes the data corruption issues users have been reporting since Home Server went live. In addition, it adds 64-bit Vista support, shared folder backup features, and improved remote accessibility. You can download it here. [Windows Home Server Blog via All About Microsoft]

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If you had trouble jailbreaking and unlocking your iPhone 2.0 with Pwnage 2.0, there's a new version out there that will make it even easier to free your iPhone, fixing some of the problems which were found in the previous version:

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It looks like TiVo's 9.4 Summer Update has been released ahead of schedule and will supposedly be hitting every box by month's end. This update brings six new features, two of which actually seem really useful for most TiVoers. Folders will now have the option to be played or deleted, and the guide can be viewed at any time (while watching live TV, a recording, or even a download, but obviously not during menus). Since TiVo's 9.4 priority page hasn't been posted yet this update should hit your box as a total surprise while you're sleeping. [Zatz Not Funny!]

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