So last night my iPhone buzzes me and let’s me know I have a new email from American Express. I figure it is just another Skymiles statement tied into my Delta frequent flyer account that I get every month. But luckily before quickly hitting delete, I see XBox 360 in the subject line.

So I decide to actually open it and I find out something surprising. American Express is going to issue me a credit just for synching up my Amex account with my XBox 360. Now I am sure there is some malevolent connection between the two to allow them to both do market research on me but let’s face it, these two companies already know all the bad stuff about me.

Microsoft knows how many hours of my life are spent online gaming already and my AmEx card knows where I blow my disposable income. Registering the two together isn’t going to ruin me by any means.

Activision announced pre-order bonuses late last week for their upcoming titles ‘Spider-Man: Edge of Time’ and ‘X-Men: Destiny’. Depending on which retailer you choose to reserve your copy (or copies) from, you’ll receive a different and unique bonus item for each game. Web-headed fans will receive a bonus in-game suit, while X-Men players will get an exclusive X-Gene to further develop their arsenal of mutant abilities.

For those pre-ordering Spider-Man from Best Buy, you’ll get the Big Time suit – based on the outfit from the comic series of the same name. Gamers who reserve via Amazon.com receive a code to unlock the alienesque black and white Future Foundation Spidey suit, and lastly anyone pre-ordering with Gamestop will receive a whopping four alternate costumes from the Identity Crisis storyline.

The bonus codes for ’X-Men: Destiny,’ on the other hand, unlock more than just a fancy change of pants. Pre-order unlocks for this title grant you access to otherwise unavailable mutant X-Genes:  from Best Buy come the powers of the unstoppable Juggernaut; Amazon offers Emma Frosts diamond-clad telepathic abilities, and codes from Gamestop will unlock the plamsa-blasting X-Gene of Havok.

Check out the videos below for exclusive footage of these bonuses in action. ‘X-Men: Destiny’ hits shelves on September 27th of this year, with ‘Spider-Man: Edge of Time’ coming shortly after on October 4th.

If you’re one of the people who loves the Android OS, doesn’t want an iPhone and is a bit short of cash, this story might just be what you are looking for. Best Buy has announced a special one-day sale that will put any of the three versions of Google’s latest own-branded smartphone in your pocket for free.

That’s right, free as in free beer. Who doesn’t love that?

The T-Mobile Nexus S, Sprint’s Nexus S 4G and the AT&T version of the Google Nexus S can all be had for zero dollars from now through midnight tonight, Central Time. To take advantage of this you will, of course, need to sign up for a two-year contract.

However, it might be worth it. Google’s Nexus S smartphone features Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 16GB of internal storage, dual cameras, a 4-inch WVGA display and an integrated NFC chip.

In the case of Sprint’s version, it also features a 4G WiMAX radio. Although, you may suffer a bit in the battery life area with that one.

For all the scoop, Best Buy’s full press release is after the jump.

If you’ve been anxiously awaiting the chance to get your first experience with Apple’s latest slab of goodness or if you’re just tired of your iPad version 1.0, this announcement is for you. Apple, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless have all confirmed, via press releases, that tomorrow is the big day and the iPad 2 will be on sale.

Starting at 5PM local time, those of you with cash or credit card in hand can head on over to your nearest Apple, AT&T, or Verizon Wireless retail store and purchase the 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB iPad 2 in white or black.

If you go the AT&T route, here’s your data plan options:

• Monthly statements: $14.99 for 250 MB or $25 for 2GB. If you exceed your monthly data allotment you will be billed $14.99 for another 250MB on the $14.99 plan or $10 per 1 GB of overage on the 2 GB plan. You also get a free month of service with this plan.

• Credit card billing: $14.99 for 250 MB or $25 for 2 GB. If you exceed your monthly data allotment you may choose to purchase another 250 MB on the $14.99 plan or an additional 2 GB for $25 on the 2 GB plan.

How long will it be before we stop using the word laptop? And really, who wants a Netbook? Well, if these recent comments by Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn are taken into consideration, we might have to get used to the word, and to using, an iPad instead.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Dunn remarked that the iPad “had cannibalized sales from laptop PCs by as much as 50%.” That’s a pretty impressive number when you consider that Best Buy doesn’t even sell iPads in every one of its stores.

If you think about it it sorta makes sense though. For myself and many of my colleges, a laptop is a second computer that they use on the road. Or, they have a laptop for the kitchen or the living room for the kids and still rely on a desktop computer, or in my case an iMac, to get the real work done.

The iPad is the perfect casual computer that can fulfill most of the roles of the traditional laptop. You can browse the internet, check your email, watch movies and TV shows, read books, play games and much more all while using a cool and innovative device. Couple that with the ridiculously long battery life of the iPad when compared to most laptops and I think you’ll start to see why this is happening.

The iPad can almost completely replace the laptop for most people. And once Best Buy is featuring the device in all of its 1093 stores, which it’s expected to do by September 26th, you can bet we’ll see that number rise even higher.