All the news from around the network that you probably should know…

Joost is going down the drain, and AnimeNews.biz is reporting what is going to happen with the technology…

Over on CentralGadget.com, we’re urging you to nab those Windows 7 early-upgrade discounts… as they’re running out.

Our deal site, CheapenGadget.com, has found Apple continuing their fire sale of MacBook Air refurbs. The newest entry in way-too-low-pricing for the ultracompact notebook is the GeForce 9400M-powered variety… for $1199.

And, on PhoneNews.com, LG finally gets on the iPhone-style updating train.

The online video portal Joost, founded by former core Skype/Kazaa developers has announced in a press release that it will restructure its business to act as a white label video platform for media companies, including cable and satellite providers, broadcasters and video aggregators with the technology and service offering supporting content owner efforts to build branded video portals online.

This development will lead to the video platform being made commercially available to media companies around the world at the expense of staff reductions and office closures, with the video portal continuing to operate for the time being.

Joost currently features licensed content from Funimation, Geneon, Dentsu, Viz Media, Gong, The Anime Network, and Anime News Network.

The forthcoming August issue of Japan’s Megami Magazine being launched on Tuesday features an announcement stating that a new season of Kanokon is being slated for production according to the ever reliable 2channel.

Director Atsushi Otsuki will direct the animators at Xebec on the new project with further information to be confirmed on the launch of the issue.

Kanokon was a surprise hit of the Spring 2008 season, with the romantic comedy known for its raunchy situational humor almost overshadowing the plot line about a young first-year high school student who moves from the country to the city and thus transfers to a new high school where two girls who are revealed to be personifications of a fox and wolf spirit vie for his romantic affection.

Venerable Evangelion fan forum EvaGeeks features a spoiler-filled synopsis of the second Evangelion film, as well as a spoiler-free version.

After reading both synopses, this will be the only time I can recommend the spoiler-filled version if only to fire up the imagination and imagine the action during some of the key events of the film.

Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance was released in Japan on Saturday, June 27th with a special EVA-Extra magazine promo in select theaters.

AnimeNews and CentralGadget have been able to confirm that Hulu has begun actively blocking access to the streaming service to PS3 web browser users since early this morning.

Attempts to access content from Fox, NBC, Funimation, and other content providers have been met with the “This video/content is not available on your platform” messages when attempting to stream programming from the site, with as yet no official explanation from Hulu.

Speculation has run high that the streaming service is actively looking to enforce the strict separation between TV and internet programming ever since the protracted cat and mouse game began with social streaming media platform boxee being blocked from direct Hulu access earlier this year.

Another salvo was fired when Hulu released a dedicated desktop client that was meant to drive away other third-party plugins that used workarounds for Hulu access.

While Hulu access on the PS3 left something to be desired in terms of reliability and usability, it was still the easiest plug and play method to enjoy Hulu without having to resort to the purchase of additional hardware or the need to install additional software as is the case with many other alternative access methods.

Story developing with followups as necessary

The first trailer for the Xbox 360 version of the Tayutama: Kiss on my Deity visual novel is now online.

The original game was a standard erotic visual novel for PC by developer Lump of Sugar, with the Xbox 360 version marking the transition to a general audience version.

The game revolves around male protagonist Yuuri Mito, a third year high school student who is a descendant of the Mito family of the Yachimata Shrine. Yuuri and his friends discover a wooden relic which bears mysterious symbols in the school’s woods.

The relic turns out to host the Tayutai race which the shrine worships, but is deemed to be insignificant for preservation and is planned for destruction to make way for a school expansion. The relic is then destroyed after an accident which releases the entire Tayutai race.

Noted and popular manga writer collective CLAMP have lent their costume design talents to Namco-Bandai’s forthcoming home release of the Tekken 6 fighting game for the PS3 in Japan with an exclusive costume for Jin Kazama, one of the protagonists of the venerable fighting game series.

Image courtesy of SD Tekken. Click for full-size.

The comfirmation comes via this week’s issue of Weekly Famitsu video game magazine as seen in the above image.

Several online retailers have listed the Kurokami Part 1 DVD release on TBA status since May, while Amazon now lists the release as “discontinued by the manufacturer”.

If in fact canceled by Bandai, this would mark the second cancellation and first series cancellation from the venerable distributor after the cancellation of the Lucky Star Volume 6 Limited Edition earlier this year due to low sales of prior volumes.

Kurokami was announced by Bandai Entertainment in January as a new license along with the first ever international television simulcast on niche cable network iaTV with an English dub eight hours after the initial Japanese primetime broadcast.

The series was subsequently posted to YouTube beginning in May of this year, and the first DVD release was first solicited in March for a May release, delayed to June after unknown issues arose once again, then placed on TBA status in mid-May.

According to movie news site Bloody Disgusting, the Leonardo DiCaprio backed live-action production of Akira is “dead as a doornail” with former director Ruairi Robinson having left the project at an unspecified point and time according to separate sources.

The film adaptation was to move the action to “New Manhattan,” a city rebuilt by Japanese money and was to hit theaters this summer provided the script was done in 2008, which never materialized due to the WGA strike as well as the lack of any discernible cast attachments.

“Akira” would have marked the feature directorial debut for Robinson who was nominated for a best animated short Oscar in 2001 for a sci-fi comedy called “Fifty Percent Grey.” He also wrote and directed a sci-fi short titled “The Silent City”.

After the abject commercial bomb that was WATCHMEN, Warner Bros. may have gotten cold feet about taking another massive risk on another story with similar scale where the characters require massive amounts of exposition and backstory to properly frame the film for general audiences, something which the aforementioned film failed to do effectively according to Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes reviews.

Guitarist Die of Japanese metal band Dir En Grey was recently interviewed at England’s Download music festival this past weekend before their short performance on the second stage.

The interview centers on the band and covers the introduction for new fans and listeners as well as the possibility of further dates in the UK aside from the festival circuit.