free

If you're looking for a new Xbox Live Avatar prop, you may want to check out the Xbox 360 Sales and Specials app. In the Chain Reaction section, the Toy Soldiers bi-plane avatar prop is free.

As an added bonus to the free Avatar prop, the prop does carry over to your Windows Phone Gaming Hub.

If you aren't familiar with or downloaded the Sales & Specials app on your Xbox 360 console, finding this section can be a bit of a challenge.

Update: Users are reporting download issues with Draw Something and compatibility. Your mileage may vary.

Nokia had originally offered Draw Something recently to Lumia owners but the game was quickly pulled for what seemed like connection errors. Now that game and its companion, Words with Friends, have both returned to the Nokia Collection.

Interestingly, both games are completely free though these do have ads to cover their costs. That differs from the games we covered here last night, which will run you $2.99 to play but do not have ads.

Both games are available now and will work on Windows Phone 7 and 8 devices. You can download Words with Friends here and Draw Something here in the Nokia Collection. QR codes after the break…

Folks on AT&T are getting a bit antsy and rightly so as the carrier has so far not been very stable with their WP8 lineup. Specifically when it comes to a release dates. So far we've heard October 21st (Best Buy pre-sale), November 2nd, November 4th, November 11th and yesterday was November 9th. Clearly AT&T is moving the date around for whatever reason but we think they're getting ready to announce things very soon, as last minute meetings are finalizing plans.

One of our AT&T insiders has confirmed the following information:

• Friday, November 9th - Nokia Lumia 820 ($49) and Nokia Lumia 920 ($149)
• The 920 will come with the wireless charge pad (free)

The 9th is the date that eBay/Best Buy was advertising yesterday as "expected availability" and it was there for a reason. Of course that same site evidently pulled the trigger early as within an hour of our post their site went down. When it returned, the Lumia 920 was all but scrubbed, only leaving the HTC 8X. Some of us, however, were able to get in our order with a 25% off coupon, locking in the Lumia 920 for $449 off-contract (but locked to AT&T).

You'll be smiling when it's sunny

The developer of Weather Smiles has made the app available for free for a limited time, according to the Marketplace listing. The app enables Windows Phone owners to keep up-to-date on weather forecasts and has the unique feature of sporting two locations on a single tile - as opposed to one weather reading seen in most weather apps. It's a unique twist with smilies being deployed to add humour to condition reports.

Crackle, a digital network and studio, has released an official app for Windows Phone. The service offers commercially supported streaming of video content in Flash format. Owned by Sony Pictures, its primary collection is Sony's library of films and television shows. Crackle (crackle.com) provides its content through a web syndication network, which includes YouTube, Huhu, AOL, MySpace, and mobile service providers.

Without requiring to signup and register an account, Crackle enables Windows Phone owners to enjoy content for free from its expansive collection. According to the company, twenty new movies and television episodes are added monthly. Genres include the likes of action, comedy, crime, horror, thriller, sci-fi, and anime. There's bound to be a title for everyone.

Although we don’t use our phone-as-an-alarm all to often, clearly many of you do, so it’s always nice to have options out there to entertain. Especially free options. Such is the case with ‘627 AM’ which is available now on the Windows Phone Marketplace.

The app is simple, clever but most importantly…simply gorgeous. It features the current temperature, weekly forecast, independent daily alarms and a to-do list all on a single, well designed screen.

If you're not familiar, Gydar Industries is the developer behind Windows Phone titles such as Trine's Hangman and People Search. Gydar Industries is based out of Norway and today marks the anniversary of the tragedy in Oslo and Utoya. Feeling the need to do something positive in remembrance of this tragic event, Gydar is offering all their Windows Phone apps for free today.

Although some users complain that Nokia, Microsoft and AT&T aren’t doing enough for the Lumia 900, we can say we do like the presence of the flagship phone on our Xbox 360.

Many of you have noticed the occasional Windows Phone ad the pops up in one of the Xbox 360’s Home screen Tiles. When you click on it, you’re greeted with the image, which you see above, promoting the Lumia 900. What’s more, if you click on it and follow the directions, you can download and unlock a free Lumia 900 theme and Gamer Pic.

The Xbox 360 Windows Phone Theme feat. the Lumia 900

The theme is fairly basic—white with a Lumia 900 dropping in the background and “Windows Phone” emblazoned—but it’s effective and we like it quite a lot. The Gamer Pic is a lot more basic with just a black box and “Windows Phone” being displayed. At least it sticks out.

Combined with some of those free Windows Phone avatar props, our Xbox 360 is all about the Lumia 900 and Windows Phone, which is a pretty neat combo. Not bad Microsoft, not bad at all. As to how you can get these freebies, you'll just have to check your Xbox 360 and grab it when you see it (US residents only since it's an AT&T tie in).