This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who ever sniped in Tribes, or got good enough at Street Fighter II to see kicks coming after a single frame. But to those who think there are no benefits to playing games, one study suggests at least one: improved eyesight. → Read More
The standard alarm clock radio I owned as a kid is an archaic POS compared to Acoustic Research’s Infinite Radio. The ARIR200 connects wirelessly to your home network to stream music from Slacker Personal Radio, blurp weather reports from WeatherBug and stream my own collection of hits from MP3tunes. → Read More
Looks like Devin and I missed BioWare at GDC, but that’s what the Internet is for, right? Following the jump are two videos of the same footage taken at a GDC presentation with the second video being a bit longer from a different perspective. Nothing is really given away, but it looks like ME2 is humming right along. → Read More
Among retro gamers, these types of cartridges are the stuff of legend. No one really knows why — it’s not like it’s the a World Championship cart from The Wizard (those go for $20K) — but it is an extremely hard to find piece of Nintendo history. → Read More
If cost is no object and all you care about is energy savings (you rich, selfless bastard you), then this light bulb should be your first consideration. The GeoBulb is an LED bulb that produces the same light as a 60-watt incandescent with just 7.5 watts — a power savings of almost 90 percent. The problem is, it costs $120, a price increase of about a gazillion percent over regular bulbs, and even more over these super-efficient ones we heard about a little while ago. → Read More
What we have here is a man’s fan. With summer fast approaching many of you will be seeking refuge in your garage, away from the kids or wife and the beer fridge can’t be left open while you’re watching the game. The Otto isn’t just any ole fan that you can pick up at Wal*Mart, though. It’s a 45W 3-speed “industrial” fan with adjustable feet and a fancy quartered sapele wooden frame. The Swiss makes it so you know it’s got to be worth the $199.99 price tag. → Read More
Earth Hour was last night. From 8:30 to 9:30, no matter what time zone you live in, we were all asked to turn off outside lights and any inside lights that weren’t being used. → Read More
The “new revolutionary Portable Laptop Table” from SkyMall is apparently perfect for those days that you just want to throw on a comfy pair of work slacks, shirt, and tie, and get into bed to do some serious telecommuting. → Read More
Last year was the worst on record for the U.S. newspaper industry. Total advertising revenues (both print and online) declined 16.6 percent to $37.85 billion, according to the latest figures from the Newspaper Association of America. That is $7.5 billion less than in 2007. Print advertising alone declined 17.7. Classifieds were down 29.7 percent. And even online advertising was down 1.8 percent to $3.1 billion.
Newspapers are shuttering their print editions, laying off staff, or closing entirely as a result of this severe contraction in revenues brought on by the double whammy of economic recession and competition from the Web.
Drilling down into the fourth quarter numbers, total advertising dollars shrank 19.74 percent, making it the tenth straight quarter in which revenues have declined, and the sixth straight quarter in which the rate of decline has been accelerating:
3Q07: -7.4%
4Q07: -10.3%
1Q08: -12.85%
2Q08: -15.11%
3Q08: -18.11%
4Q08: -19.74%
IT software maker Spiceworks has developed a set of customized plugins and widgets in a variety of categories for the Spiceworks desktop. Spiceworks’ ad-supported, free IT management software allows IT managers at small to mid-size businesses keep track of their network assets, run a helpdesk, monitor activity, receive reports and troubleshoot network problems.
The plugins let you keep track of alerts, tickets, new software, and new hardware, as well as a inventory summaries. Widgets include a help desk widget and reports and inventory widgets and allows users access this information easily. Spiceworks also lets users add themes and skins to the desktop, create customized user portals, and lets users drop in news widgets from RSS feeds and social networking widgets for Twitter, Digg, Facebook, and MySpace. → Read More
This guest post is written by Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering for Google’s mobile and developer products. (Prior to Google, he spent 15 years at Microsoft, most recently as their GM of Platform Evangelism.) Vic credits his now-7-year-old with forecasting the importance of mobile data access, and now carries at least 4 phones at all times. Fortunately, he had two kids before adopting the possibly-prophylactic habit. Focus on the mobile user, and all else will follow Simpler data, better browsers, and a smoother experience Today the mobile industry finds itself in a unique position to do right by its users: Worldwide phone penetration continues to climb at a break-neck pace, with over 4 billion mobile subscribers at last count.1 (In comparison, the PC industry is forecasted to see its sharpest unit decline in history.2) Prevailing economic conditions will accelerate this trend, as users consolidate pricey communication services into cost-effective, all-in-one mobile devices.3 And for the first time ever, half of all new connections to the internet will come from a phone in 2009.4 Google’s mobile traffic reflects these milestones — having quintupled since 20075 — and it underscores users’ appetite for mobile data services. But as a community of operators, device manufacturers and software providers, we continue to get in their way. In short, and as a general rule, we make it too costly, too unfamiliar, and too difficult to do anything beyond voice calls. In reply I offer up three suggestions: simpler data plans, better web browsers, and a smoother on-device experience. And in each case I’ll use Google traffic numbers as a proxy for total internet usage and user happiness. Disclaimer: As a Google employee using internal data to carry the weight of this article, I owe it to the reader to lay bare my economic incentives: the company I work for has a financial interest in the broad and sweeping adoption of the Internet-as-we-know-it. Indeed, more internet users leads to increased web usage, which often leads to more Google searches and downstream ad clicks. I use Google data because it’s what I know best, and because it reinforces my industry-facing remarks, but make no mistake: I’m fundamentally interested in what’s good for the mobile internet. It just so happens that this is also good for Google. With that said, I hope you’ll find value in the words and data that follow. Flat is the new phat → Read More
Short Version: Wii owners sick of replacing controller batteries every couple weeks will find Tekno Creations’ $35 InCharge contact-less charging system to be a good investment. → Read More
Best Buy is selling the wireless Les Paul Guitar Hero controller for Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii for $19.99 each. You’ll have to pony up an extra $7.49 for shipping or pick it up at your local store, but even with shipping it’s still a pretty good deal. Guitar Hero Wireless Les Paul Controller [Best Buy via dealnews] → Read More
In what I’d assume was some sort of Twitter follower-hording publicity stunt if it weren’t for the fact that their account was set to private, some gent named Jim Van is claiming (Via Twitter) to not only have a Pre in hand, but to have some inside info pointing toward a release on April 30th. Could the Pre be coming on April 30th? Sure. It is a date in the first half of 2009, and the number of those left is quickly dwindling. But here’s why we doubt it: → Read More
So, there’s this guy named Jim Vance who is the CEO of Logicomm, which appears to be some IT firm and Mr. Vance is claiming to have a Pre and that it’s coming on 4/30. He has a handful of tweets claiming this and that about the Pre, but he’s had it for two days and promises of photos and screenshots of the UI have not yet materialized.
Update: Because this is how I like to spend my Saturday afternoons – following some dude on Twitter for Pre updates. Anyway, Mr. Van claims to have been tipped off by an insider on the price of the Pre. → Read More
Online music may be a treacherous space right now, but there are still a handful of music startups that may be coming close to getting it right. One of our favorites is Lala, a streaming music site that allows users to put their digital music library in the cloud, which can then be accessed from any computer. And soon, they’ll be able to access every song they own from their iPhones too, without having to worry about storage capacity or syncing.
Unlike music sites like MySpace Music, which largely revolve around playlists and streaming individual albums, Lala is meant to serve as a web-based music library. The site has forged unique deals with every major record label (and many indies too) that allows users to populate their online library with the music they already have on their computer (legally acquired or otherwise). Users simply install the Lala Helper app, scan their computer for music files, and sign into Lala to find their entire music library in the cloud. → Read More
Remember Jarts? The super dangerous but equally super fun lawn darts with spikey metal tips that got banned oh-so-many years ago? Apparently someone bought up a whole bunch of them and is selling them on a website called Jarts In Your Heart. Hopefully that’s supposed to mean that you’ve got loving memories of Jarts in your heart, not a physical Jart jabbed into it after a beer-filled Sunday afternoon turned barbecue turned drunken Jarts game. → Read More
Verizon recently confirmed that it’d be selling a discounted netbook in order to push its data plans, and it appears from a spreadsheet leaked to BGR that the inaugural device will be the from the HP Mini 1000 series. → Read More
I looove your fashionable wrist cuff! Thanks, it doubles as a coffee sleeve! Wow, that’s incredibly weird! Thanks, I know!
If you really love coffee and you really love the environment (though not enough to bring your own mug to Starbucks) might I suggest this handmade $65 black walnut veneer wrist cuff that serves double duty as hand-protecting coffee sleeve? → Read More
Starting tomorrow, Target will be running a buy-two-get-one-free deal on all regularly priced Wii games. → Read More
