Leaked Windows Phone 7 ads challenge your phone head-to-head

Microsoft's slowed the pace of Windows Phone 7 ads after saturating the airwaves at launch, but it looks like another campaign is about to begin -- WinRumors has a leak of a new set of "Real Time Challenge" interactive web ads that challenge you to complete tasks using your phone against a WP7 device. Challenges include taking a photo and posting it to Facebook, checking Xbox achievements, getting directions, and telling meeting participants you're running late. Not surprisingly, the WP7 device performs handily at everything -- although we're definitely wondering why you'd be checking Xbox achievements in a hurry while on the run. WinRumors also says that the "Your Phone" image is just a placeholder that will be filled in by other devices in the final ads, so we'll see how MS decides to portray other platforms and their apps -- there's a lot of ways to do some of these things on Android and iOS devices. (And, sigh, we would note that "Update system software without fatal errors" is not a listed activity.) In any event, it's a clever ad idea -- check the video below.

[Thanks, Irv]

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DirecTV previews its iPad remote app: no streaming, but very customizable

By Richard Lawler posted Feb 23rd 2011 7:09PM iPad remote apps are the new Netflix streaming -- any DVR worth its salt has to have one and DirecTV isn't going to let Comcast, FiOS, Dish and TiVo lord over it anymore. It's launched a preview page for a new remote app "coming soon" that looks like it could challenge for the title with plenty of customizable options and ability to display information from multiple sources at once. The home screen, pictured above can tell you about what you're watching, what's on your favorite channels and keep tabs on current sports scores all at once. All the usual remote control stuff comes natural, as well as local or remote DVR management just like its mobile app. We'll wait until it comes out to pass judgement but clearly the company has been watching the competition and seeing where it can improve. Now, where's that DirecTiVo?

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Arcade Table's Stealth brings high design, crazy price tag to tabletop arcade

By Christopher Trout posted Feb 23rd 2011 7:57AM The tabletop arcade market isn't exactly a crowded one these days, and for the most part we'd say that's for good reason -- remember those Pac-Man-induced neck spasms? Then again, most arcade tables don't look like this. The Stealth console system from the aptly-named Arcade Tables offers 60 classic games, including Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Galaga, in a high gloss cocktail table, sporting an HD LCD screen with an 89-degree viewing angle, built-in speaker system, and two-player controls. Okay, so the thing costs $3,300, which is more than a touch too rich for our blood, but wouldn't it be nice if more throwback consoles looked a little more, well, Stealth-y.

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American Idol Voting On Its Way to Facebook

You’ll soon be able to use a dedicated page on Facebook to vote for your favorites on American Idol.

Viewers and fans will be allowed to cast their ballots up to 50 times, as long as they vote during that broadcast’s designated voting period, according to Entertainment Weekly.

This new method of voting won’t replace the traditional toll-free telephone call or text message, but for Facebook users, it certainly sounds a lot easier than dealing with the plague of busy signals or spam texts we’ve experienced when using the other two voting methods on American Idol.

While this is the first direct online voting method, you might recall last year’s “Idol Fanatic” Facebook voting routine, which used Ribbit online telephony to automatically dial in votes submitted via its Facebook application. That looks to be a thing of the past — a visit to that Facebook page today showed it to be defunct, with no activity since May 18, 2010, a week before last season ended. Too bad, because the page’s users had an uncanny ability of predicting who would be voted off the show before it was over.

According to the report, online voting will be implemented soon, showing up on next Tuesday’s (March 1) American Idol.

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Photo Sharing Fan? Send Your #TechLife Digital Collage to Mashable & CNN iReport

The next generation of digital photography is here: built-in cameras, photo-splicing apps and image-sharing communities such as Instagram and PicPlz. It’s inspired many to turn their smartphones into miniature picture-editing and collage-making studios.

Now, in partnership with CNN iReport, we’re challenging you to get creative. Use your digital photo tools to make a collage showing the role technology plays in your life.

Build a composite image out of three to four photos; splice them together using a photo app like Diptic. If you don’t have access to such apps, other photo editing methods work just as well.

Upload your collage by using the assignment page or e-mail it to iReport. Instagram users, we encourage you to post your images there, too, and tag them #techlife. Please submit your collage by Friday, February 25.

As with other iReports — which range in topics from the unrest in Egypt to the Verizon iPhone — your photos could be featured on CNN, as well as here on Mashable.

Are your creative wheels already turning? We encourage you to brainstorm in the comments below.

Image courtesy Flickr, N-Sai

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