New BlackBerry Surfaced?

Could this be the next big BlackBerry? This picture of what is presumed to be the new 9000 series was posted on the BlackBerryForums recently, with a one-word comment of "Enjoy."

Will this model have a touchscreen as so many are hoping? Will it have the ability to read HTML e-mail? One can only wait until it comes out in the first half of '08.

Oh, by the way...happy new year to everyone. Here's to a prosperous year for both Techoo and its readers.

[Pocket-lint]

Amazon Kindle Goes Kaput. The Beginning Of Something Big?

A very unfortunate man has submitted this picture to CrunchGear. It seems that with little to no use, much less abuse, the screen of his girlfriend's Amazon Kindle is gradually deteriorating. It could be just a isolated problem, or it could be the start of something a little more serious. When the man informed Amazon, they said that they were aware of the problem and would send a new one as soon as the backorders are filled. So, if you own a Kindle, you should probably start watching out.

The Romantics Snubbed In Court

It appears that Guitar Hero has won the battle with the 80's band The Romantics. As you may have read earlier, The Romantics were suing Activision for using a cover of the song "What I Like About You" that sounded too much like the original. A federal judge rejected the band's request to have the song removed from the catalog of Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's.

Too bad, guys. Merry Christmas.

Christmastyme Revue

Well, the day is finally upon us. Christmas is two days away, and we sure do hope that all of you out there have finally finished your shopping, but we know that most of you haven't. If you're still searching for that perfect gift, we have a few good tips and product ideas for ya.

1. Send 'em an online gift card.
The deadlines for shipping a gift by Christmas has passed for most retailers without their own private Concorde jets, so actually buying your special someone a physical gift is not near impossible without heading into the deadly masses of shoppers at the retail stores. The solution? An online gift card. Most online retailers offer there cards, and they can be emailed to the recipient within seconds of ordering. No traveling, no wrapping, just gifting! Easy.

2. Give 'em a USB stress relief thingy!
If your friend is angered by you not getting him/her a present for the past few years, give them this. Instead of releasing their rage on you, they'll happily punch this plastic face that makes noises of pain when impacted.

3. Give 'em a Wii VC game.
If the guy/gal has a Wii, and you do too, then a Virtual Console game could make the perfect gift. Just recently, Nintendo has updated the Wii Shop Channel to allow users to send a game to one of their friend's Wii's over the interwebpages.

4. Get all that shopping done by living at Wal-Mart.
A woman from Georgia did it, so why can't you? This woman shopped, ate, and slept for 72 hours inside a 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter in Lilburn, Georgia. She eventually had to be escorted out of the store by police, but not after checking out. So if you really want to get that physical gift by Christmas morning, then get your comfortable shoes and bring a pillow to your local Wal-Mart!

Wizardry: Rare J.K. Rowling Book Sold For $4 Mil

Amazon.com flexed their check-writing muscle recently buy purchasing one of seven handmade copies of J.K. Rowling's compilation of fairy tales, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Here's a little bit from Amazon's bragging page.

We're incredibly excited to announce that Amazon has purchased J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard at an auction held by Sotheby’s in London. The book of five wizarding fairy tales, referenced in the last book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is one of only seven handmade copies in existence. The purchase price was £1,950,000, and Ms. Rowling is donating the proceeds to The Children's Voice campaign, a charity she co-founded to help improve the lives of institutionalized children across Europe.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is extensively illustrated and handwritten by the bard herself--all 157 pages of it. It's bound in brown Moroccan leather and embellished with five hand-chased hallmarked sterling silver ornaments and mounted moonstones.

If you take a look at the pictures of the actual book, the cover and illustration designs look pretty morbid, so who knows what the pages hold.

Ultimate Geekery: New KITT Chosen

The car to be used as KITT in NBC's upcoming Knight Rider TV movie will be a Shelby GT500KR Mustang, according to Jalopnik.

Although pretty sweet looking, and with a nice integration of the trademark red scanner, the Trans Am seemed to have more of a soul to it. A little more soul than a Mustang that has been raped of all FoMoCo ovals and sex un-appeal. Hopefully it will cushion the blow of Ford's obviously imminent demise.

The movie, slated to air on February 17, stars actors and actresses from such runaway hits as All My Children, The Young and the Restless, and Veronica Mars. It should be expected to be a quite painful two hours to watch. Fear not, however! David Hasselhoff will guest star as Michael Knight, so stay tuned for those three minutes!

Bring Out 'Yer Dead: CompUSA Kicks The Bucket

TWIN PEAKS, WASHINGTON-The body of CompUSA was found this dead this morning, wrapped in plastic, on the shores of Best Buy Lake.

No, this wasn't the actual article, but it might as well have been.

CompUSA, the Dallas-based overpriced computer retailer has been sold to the Gordon Brothers restructuring firm, and will close all of its stores after the holiday season. I wonder if the store closing sales will be as crappy as the last ones they had earlier this year.

Firefox Gran Paradiso: Firefox 2.0-Suckage

I downloaded the Gran Paradiso version of Firefox a few weeks ago, and have just now started playing with it. My main opinion so far is as follows: kickass.

Firefox 2.0 has had it's shortcomings. I've experienced slowdowns with 2.0 that hearken back to my days of dial-up, and my Linux version crashes no less that 7,982 times a day. Yes, I'm exaggerating, but I expect much more out of Firefox, so I have been using Opera for the past month with much satisfaction. Now, I have discovered Gran Paradiso, the beta version for Firefox 3.0, and it has amazed me. It's nothing short of blazing fast, and I have yet to experience a crash yet. And this is the Linux version, mind you. I'll probably be using this from now on, or until I find a glaring bug, which I doubt.

Rockin' On 'Da Commodore

This exceeds so many levels of badassedry it's unbelievable. It even beckons the creation of the word badassedry.

You see that picture over there? Yeah, that one. Do you see anything unusual about it? You see the plastic guitar, so you might assume that this is about Guitar Hero. You'd be right, but you still haven't found what's different. Maybe a different console, perhaps? Give up? How about that it's a FUCKING COMMODORE 64 RUNNING GUITAR HERO!!!!!!!!!

Yes, brothers! You can indulge your 20+ year-old personal computer with the modern badassedry (there it is again) of the best musically-themed game of all time.

It's called Shredz64, and the genius behind it reports that the guitar interface he's created is 98% functional. In my book, that means somewhat playable! Sir, you have way too much time on your hands, but oh how well you've spent it.

Scogg's Score: Marathon Madness

After the release of the fastest-selling video game in history, Halo 3, rumors have been flooding cyberspace like crazy. People are wondering what former Microsoft affiliate Bungie Studios will do now that they've finished the so-called "final chapter" of perhaps what has become one of the most revolutionary First-person Shooter games in the history of the industry, (second only to Doom). Well, I'll tell you what I've heard.

Remember back in the '90s a little after Doom was released? There was a game made for Macintosh computers by Bungie that went by the name of Marathon. The first-person shooter genre was still in its infancy, but for those who played it, Marathon represented "a landmark in Macintosh gaming".



What many people don't know is that much of what Halo was based on came from concepts from Marathon. Now for the juicy bit: rumor has it that Bungie plans to completely remake the Marathon series using to their full advantage all the pleasures of modern technology. Could this be the next big FPS blockbuster, or just one more FPS blowout? Only time can tell...

Zach's Office Chair of Rage: Visa

I'm sitting in my office chair, thoroughly pissed at a certain credit card company. I also know other people who share my sentiment.

You've probably seen those commercials for Visa check cards that show the well-oiled machine of capitalism chugging along with people effortlessly and quickly completing their transactions by swiping their debit cards. But wait, who's that asshole that's writing a check?! The flawlessly choreographed symphony of shopping grinds to a sudden halt when the poor bastard at the counter fumbles with cash or tears out a check. Then, they either continue their transaction like a consumer with balls would do, or notice their monetary misstep and pull out the VISA CARD.

Okay Visa, it's time you got a little taste of my rage. I'm one of those people that uses cash on a daily basis. What kind of damn problem to you have with cash holders. Yes, I know that your commercials are an exaggeration, but they are very offensive to those of us who enjoy using money.

Oh, and one more thing. I do admit that I use a debit card. A MASTERCARD debit card! Stick that up your pipe and smoke it, bitch.

The Romantics Sue Activision

Guitar Hero might be in trouble. The Romantics, the 80's band that made the hit "That's What I Like About You," is angry that the cover song of the same name on Guitar Hero Rocks the 80's doesn't suck as much as their original version. So would it come as a surprise that they're suing? They think that it is a violation of copyright law to make a song that sounds too much like the original. Well, here's what the Copyright Act says:

"...the arrangement shall not change the basic melody or fundamental character of the work..."

If the group gets their way, there is a possibility that the game could be taken off of the shelves. Good luck with that. If they lose, my punishment would be for the whole band to be forced to watch a TGI Fridays commercial with their song on it playing on a constant loop. Forever.

T! At Black Friday 2007

My video camera was on the fritz, so I only have pictures from my cheesetastic cameraphone to report to you.

I crawled out of bed at 4a.m., and left the house by 4:15. I traveled 25 miles to Circuit City in Denton, Texas, to take advantage of the $8 2GB USB drive.

I wasn't expecting to see any die-hard shopper lines in Denton, but when I passed Best Buy on the way to Circuit City, I saw a line full of tents, chairs, and crazy people. The same sight greeted me when I arrived to the City.

I waited in line for about ten minutes before the doors opened at 5. Once opened, everyone started to pour in.



After wriggling my way past the crowd, I finally found the huge cardboard box full of USB drives. I grabbed three of them, and charged to the register.


Once the cashier scanned my items, the total popped up on the screen. $48. What? These are $8 bucks apiece! What I didn't know, and the folks at black-friday.net didn't tell me, was that there was a mail-in rebate, and there was a limit of one per person. I immediately snapped back a demand to have my money back, then I calmly said that I would like to just have one. It wasn't what I expected, but I got what I wanted.

After Circuit City, I traveled to many stores looking for prospective gifts and watching the crowds take this day way too seriously. My first stop was across the boulevard to the Golden Triangle Mall, our local mall since 1979. Even though it's drawing it's dying breaths, and will soon be snuffed out by a mega shopping center on the other side of town, the anchor stores were open extra early to greet shoppers.

I walked through the empty halls, and through the busy aisles of JCPenney and Sears.




This lady is so tired that she apparently can't even carry her pillows without dragging them pathetically on the ground.

After the mall, I stopped by Target, which was by far the most crowded store out of any other that morning. I didn't stay very long, especially after I witnessed this sea of people:



Once I escaped Target, I just want to random stores, picking up a few gifts along the way. I had a good time, but one thing is for sure. I probably won't be doing this again for a loooooong time.

Techoo! Goes To Black Friday

I'm setting my alarm for 4a.m. in the mornin', cause I'm taking part in the festivities of Black Friday.

First, a trip to Circuit City, to nab a couple of those 2GB Sandisk Cruzers for 8 bucks. After that, anything goes. I'm thinking about videotaping my travels for publishing on this interweb tubepage, so stay tuned.

The Weekender: Forecast for Rain

I know that this is an oldie, but it's a goodie for sure. Anyone remember this, or the countless parodies of it on YouTube? I will explain no more, since the video should explain more than enough.

Amazon to Release E-Book Reader Monday

Hey, do you remember the Sony Reader I talked about earlier? You don't? You guys are going to have to start remembering these things.

Anyway, Amazon is about to get in on the lucrative e-book business with their new Kindle e-book reader.

CNet reports that it's equipped with wi-fi in order to connect to the Amazon e-book store to quench your thirst for books. The price tag is expected to be about $399, so it's still to friggin' expensive, considering you could buy a Palm Z22 that can do the exact same thing, or a beefier model for more reading. I sure hope this does better than the Sony Reader, but I heavily doubt it.

Zach's Linux Switch: Video Editing

I'm gonna add a little more to my Linux switch saga; this time I'm talking about video editors, and how much all of them in Linux suck.

Seriously. Linux can do pretty much all of the things Windows can do with little to no effort, while editing a simple video is a major pain in the ass. No video editor is included in Ubuntu, and all of the editors I have tried either crash, have absolutely no features or fail to play the video properly at all.

The first one I tried, PiTiVi, looked like a pretty good candidate. Just import your vids, drag and drop to the timeline, and add all of the wonderful effects and transitions you like, right? Wrong. It didn't include any transitions, titles, effects, or anything else that a video editor would normally have. Pretty pathetic.

Pretty much all of those I have tried since PiTiVi have been even worse. Most of them will play the video, but with no audio. Some will crash upon booting, and some won't open at all.

The video editing scene in the Linux world is in a sad state of affairs, and it will keep many people from switching if the problems aren't solved.

Check Mii Out: Bordem In Ten Minutes Or Less GUARANTEED!

I just downloaded the brand spankin' new Check Mii Out channel for the good 'ol Wii. If you don't know about this new little channel, just have a seat on the rug and grandpa T will tell you a story.

Check Mii Out is a new WiiWare channel by Nintendo that allows you to vote on and trade your and other people's miis. You can also enter mii look-alike contests. Yup, that's about it.

After downloading, I started it up and was immediately sickened by the annoying music. I thought
the Wii Shop Channel was bad. Anyway, I posted Dick Cheney mii, voted on a couple of Miis that 
looked kinda cool, then turned it off and played bowling. It was a pretty pathetic experience, to say
the least. It's free, so you don't have an excuse not to download it, but you'll have a million reasons not to use it. 

Excelsior! OS X Leopard On A PC!

No one thought it could be done! It was just an impossible dream; a dream that would never come to fruition. Well, kiddos, it's finally happened. OS X... on a...

...PC!

Yes! With a dead-simple patch of the DVD image; you, yes, you, can have OS X running on your PC.

Oh, and before running off to the link below, I must warn you. After installing, it's most likely that absolutely nothing will work. Oh well, you've got MAC...ON A FREAKIN' PC!!!

Hack Attack: Install Leopard on your PC in 3 easy steps! [Dailyapps]

My Switch To Linux, FINALLY.

I've finally done it. I didn't just install Linux, but I was finally able to install software successfully as well.

I've wanted to switch to Linux fully for a very long time. Ever since I tried Ubuntu for the first time (5.10) I knew that someday it was going to be big. With 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, it finally is.

Let's make a little performance comparison before I get into my installation and configuration journey.

With Vista, 1GB of my system's memory was used by all of the Windows eye-candy. With Ubuntu, and the much-more-badass-than-Aero Compiz, I was using only 230MB of memory. I also have noticed that my laptop doesn't run as hot with Ubuntu as it did with Vista. Now that you're interested, let's get on to the story.

My Dell E1505 came with Vista. The "Wow" started right as I cracked open the box from the Dell Outlet, to the moment I pressed Windows+Tab. Then, that was it. The "Wow" quickly faded into:

"This is dual-core computing? Why does it take thirty seconds to open Notepad?"

"I shelled out extra for this?"

"I'm gonna go get a snack."

After the delicious crackers, my computer experience reverted back into the old XP rut I was looking to escape.

After a few months, I started looking at Linux a lot more seriously. I installed Ubuntu 7.04 on my old HP desktop, just to try it out. I was impressed, and soon installed it on my laptop, much to my regret.

Most things worked perfectly, except on of the most important features I can think of on my laptop, the wireless. I tried for days trying to get the thing to work, but it just never happened. In my travels of forum after forum, I found out that Suse 10.3 was compatible with my wireless card, an Intel 4965 AGN. I promptly downloaded Suse and installed it. All was well. The wireless worked, I got VMware to work, and everything was hunky-dory, until I got the bright idea to actually install something.

I had a simple request. I wanted a video editor for the near nonexistent times whenever I actually edit video. I proceeded to attempt to install pitivi, with disastrous results. Don't ask me what I did, but when I did it, absolutely nothing worked. The wireless was dead, the ethernet was dead, none of my music would play, and I was furious. After a little bit of clueless fiddling, I decided that it was time to switch, yet again, back to Ubuntu.

By this time, Gutsy Gibbon had been released to rave reviews, so I was feeling pretty good about this go around. I installed it, and like magic, everything worked like a charm. I was installing programs, configuring wired and wireless networks, and syncing my iPod with ease. Now I was truly happy.

But the real "Wow" started once I enabled the built-in desktop effects and installed the Compiz settings manager. Once I pressed Control-Alt-Left click, my jaw dropped to the floor. Right there, before my very eyes, I had done in five minutes what I had tried weeks to do in different distros. At that point, my search, and switch, was over.

About a week after taking the plunge successfully, I am proud to say that I am satisfied with Linux, and I will be using it for hopefully a very long time. I'm even going to scrape off the Windows Vista sticker today.

Apple Make Typo In Ad; Rumors Fly

Apple made a no-no. It appears a slight typo could have possibly leaked the upcoming iPod Touch models. The ad, which is for a leather sleeve for the Touch, has this little tidbit.

"Custom fit for 80GB and 160GB iPod touch models."

Come again, Apple? This could either be a legitimate typo, or a legitimate tease.

Apple Blunder; Advertisement Reads 80GB / 160GB iPod Touch [Gizmodo]

Wear your Halo Legendary Edition Helmet!

FInally! A reason to buy the damn thing! Now you can tweak the Master Chief helmet/disc case so you can actually wear it! People with no lives rejoice!

read more | digg story

Amazon MP3 Downloads: THE Music Store For Linux

I just now delved deeper into Amazon's new music store, which I mentioned a few days ago, and I was quite impressed with my experience.

I made my first purchase One Night in Bangkok by Murray Head. Yes, I'm an 80's kind of guy. I'm probably the only man under the age of 18 in Cooke County, Texas who has Fleetwood Mac, The Pretenders, AND Haddaway on my iPod. C'mon, I challenge you.

Anyway, buying was simple and quick. I just clicked on the buy button, passed up the MP3 downloader software offer, and then was taken to a screen where I could download my song. Once I downloaded it, I loaded it to my iPod and listened to it in all of it's high-bitrate, non-DRM, sickeningly-over-the-top synthesizer goodness.

Oh, and did I mention that I did all of this in Linux?

Uh-huh. Because of the lack of DRM, and the help of some special applications, I was able to take the downlaoded song and sync it to my iPod with no fuss.

What do you think I paid for this little gem of a song? $1.99? Nope. Unlike iTunes Plus, this song only cost me 89 cents. Pretty sweet, huh?

The only downside to using Amazon MP3 with Linux is that if you want to buy a whole album, you're out of luck, as you'll have to download the Windows/Mac OS X compatible downloader client. I'm sure you could get it running in Wine, but I haven't had the chance to try. For now, I'll just have to download my music singularly.

So for anyone looking for a new music store, especially the Linux crowd, you need to take a look at this place. iTunes might want to keep an eye out for these guys.

Excuse My Absence

I've been doing a lot of work as of late. I've been considering moving to Linux on my laptop this week, which should make for a good ongoing series here soon, but first I have to cover all of my bases before I take the leap.

I'm planning to use Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy, and I've heard it includes an easy-to-use migration assistant for moving all of your documents from Windows. I'll see how that goes. Stay tuned.

Yahoo Mail Turns 10

The Y!'s online mail service turns ten years old today.

Ah, it seems like yesterday when I was the ripe age of 7, giddy with excitement with my new e-mail address. It was a Juno account, and e-mail was all we had. No pricey internet for my family! We didn't get full-blown e-mail until a couple of years later.

Anyway, here's a birthday cake for good ol' Yahoo!

iGoogle Gets Google Desktop Support

Google's Google Desktop Blog has now reported that all Google Desktop apps are now able to be displayed on your iGoogle home page.

This means that on your home page, you can do anything from play music, view your battery status, you wireless signal and anything else a Google gadget can do.

The new Google Desktop has a few new features as well, like multiple gadget instances and a new quick search box.

Amazon MP3 Will Be A Winner...If It Has Songs

I haven't had the chance to actually download a song from them yet, but the Amazon MP3 store looks pretty promising.

Released to the public just a few days ago, Amazon has made quite a contender for the iTunes Store.

The number one selling point with Amazon is its DRM-free music. That's right. When you download it, it's yours. No strings attached. Sure, Apple has DRM-free songs with EMI, but that's the problem. It's from EMI.

The interface looks pretty good. It's pretty much typical Amazon fashion, and I've heard both good and bad reviews of their Music Downloader software that's required to download from the service. I'll try it out and give my two cents on it soon.

Amazon's done a great job so far, but the big thing that needs to be done is what will make or break the service. Selection. There isn't much of it now, but soon they should grab the attention of the big labels.

Nintendo Releases Wiimote Jacket

The Big N released a special jacket that adds better grip and stability to the Wii Remote a couple of days ago. In fact, the message from Nintendo landed on my Wii yesterday. Soon after reading I dashed to the Nintendo website to nab me one, only to find that the page fails after you enter your serial number. I don't know if it's just me or what, but I was very disappointed. Guess I'll have to wait.

At least I have the super-dee-duper, non-snapping, anti-fly-into-your-plasma wrist straps. It's all good.

OMFG! New Sony Reader! It's Still Expensive!!!ONE!1!

Look! It's the new Sony eBook Reader! Is it better than the last one? It's supposed to be! Smaller? It is! Any cheaper?

No.

Sony is giving it another try with the PRS-505, a smaller, lighter revision of the last failure model. It reads the usual PDF, Word, and other eBook formats; and also TXT and RTF files.

"Well this sounds great, T! What could be wrong with this bundle of eBook joy?!"

Well, dear reader who has just somehow typed on my computer internet page screen, the bad thing is its price. $300. Just as exorbitantly priced as the last one.

Now don't get me wrong! I love this product. I tried one at the sto' once, and the e-ink technology in the screen is nothing short of incredible. Sure, the refresh rate is abysmal, but the text on the page looks just like an actual paper page out of a book. It's that clear. If Sony ever gave it a price drop, I would definitely get one. So would a lot of other people.

New Zunes To Be Released

Silicon Alley Insider reports that Microsoft revealed three new Zune models; two with 4GB and 8GB of flash memory, and one with an 80GB hard drive. They start at $149 and it's said that Microsoft will also attempt to sell DRM-free music. We'll learn more in the coming days.

Gateway Unveils One; Will Probably Bomb

Hey, kids! Remember Gateway? With the cow boxes? Used to be Gateway 2000? Ok, you probably don't, but that doesn't mean you can't marvel at this beauty.

Behold the Gateway One. The iMac's retarded distant cousin that's only seen at awkward family reunions! Seriously, I don't see how you can be much more of a copycat.

Even if it's a ripoff, the specs aren't too bad. You can get up to 3GB memory, an ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT MXM graphics card, Core 2 Duo, and a whopping seven USB ports. It's only available in a 19" model, and rings up at $1,300 base.

A noble effort, Gateway, but you still suck. Good luck keeping that general ledger in the black.

Digital Care Package Sent To Troops

Not as good as new Humvee armor or R&R, but it'll do. A guy going by the name "Deviant Ollam" has sent loads of hard drives in a hard, green case filled with movies, music and more to the troops in Tajikstan. It includes everything. The cables, the adapters, everything. And the troops are encouraged to add some of their files, and then send it to someone else.

An excellent idea for some excellent people.

[Hacker's project sends media-filled hard drives to troops] Engadget
[Traveling Terabyte - The ultimate digital care package for overseas Marines] TG Daily

Yahoo Writes $350 Million Check for Zimbra

Zimbra, an online/offline e-mail and collaboration service, has been acquired by Yahoo today for $350 million in cash. This catapults Yahoo into online office ring along with Google. Who will prevail? Who knows. I think we're headed for an office suite fight of cola war proportions.

I haven't looked at Zimbra much, except for blog postings here and there, but on closer inspection, it appears to be a pretty powerful corporate collaboration tool. It's equipped with key business e-mail features, such as creating, approving, or denying purchase orders from within the e-mail client. It looks good, too.

A good grab for Yahoo. A good grab, indeed.

George Harrison Leaves Nintendo

Some hardcore Nintendo fanboys have probably already heard that Nintendo of America was to move some operations to San Francisco and Nintendo Power to New York. Well, it's soon to happen, and some are jumping ship before it sets sail.

IGN is reporting that George Harrison, NOA's Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications, has announced to his staff that he will leave at the end of December. A few other execs are running off, as well. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. I just don't know which.

The Weekender: That Crazy Britney!

Well, we've probably all at least seen a little bit of the abomination that was Britney Spear's performance at the VMAs. I really don't care about what she does, but apparently this guy does.

What happens when a flamboyant Britney fan gets pissed? He covers himself with a sheet and cries! Way to go, evolution, you've crapped out quite a gem in this little bugger.

Logitech Blessing PS3 With Luxury Keyboard

This is purdy. Logitech has created a cordless Bluetooth keyboard and headset for the PlayStation 3 set to be released in November. Don't worry about the mouse, fellas. It's got a little touchpad built right in! The duo isn't being sold as a bundle, as they cost $80 each. But hey, for the hardcore gamer that has everything, this could make a heckuva gift.

Deal Of The Century: Office Ultimate '07 $60

Microsoft will be offering Office Ultimate 2007 at a $620 discount in about an hour. The price is now 60 bucks until April 30, 2008.

Office Ultimate includes every single component of Office except Communicator, and it's the steal of the millennium. Sure, it's available for a while, but get it anyway. You can't lose. In case you need more persuasion, here's the list of the programs you get.

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• Accounting Express
• Publisher
• Access
• Infopath
• Groove
• OneNote

I can't push this anymore than I am now! Buying one of these programs by itself costs more than this whole package! BUY IT! GAAAAAAAHHAAHAHHAHHHH!

Freedom! iPhones Now Unlockable For Free Thanks To Hack

It's over. The iPhone is now hacked and free to travel across networks. And the best thing? The hack is free. Get it. It's yours for the taking thanks to the iPhone Dev Team and to Gizmodo for giving them a mirror. So unlock those puppies!

[iPhone Free Software Unlock Confirmed! (Death Star Explodes)] Engadget

Blogger: Now With Video!

Looks like Blogger has finally taken advantage of their cousin YouTube, as they have added video posting to their service.

I can see the video upload picture up in my toolbar as I type, and we'll take advantage of it as soon as we can come up with something to tape.

On closer inspection of the actual video player, it looks a whole lot like the Google Video player, so this may be a way to recycle the soon-to-die Google Video site. Not a bad idea, as I liked the Google Video interface.

In closing, I just wanted to say a few words concerning today's anniversary.

It's been six years since the 9/11 attacks, and I just want everyone to remember what happened this morning six years ago, and to look how far we've come. If it wasn't for trademark American resiliency, none of us would be able to blog as we can today. If any jihadists out in Afghanistan are reading this, I just want to say just this.

We won. We've got Blogger, bitches.

Wii Elbow

I just bought a Wii over the weekend, and my friends and I played for hours on end. After several rounds of boxing, bowling, and a frustrating three holes of golf, we moved on to Excite Truck. I like to call Excite Truck the poor man's MotorStorm, since it's pretty much the same game, except with poorer graphics and more unrealistic (yet mind-numbingly awesome) gameplay.

Now we move on to today. My left elbow is killing me. Whenever I move it it complains with a sharp twinge of pain. I think it means I need to play more, and I won't protest that.

Anyway, I guess this will mean that a little more gaming coverage will come along pretty soon, since I'm finally back into the console gaming arena. I may have to add someone, too. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Wii hacks to research.

Oh Hell No: Gov't OK's Priority Web Traffic Fee

Your always trustworthy Justice Department has given the greenlight for charging premiums for priority traffic to the nation's phone companies.

The reason? Making a net neutrality regulation would prevent expansion of telecommunications networks and pass the high cost of expansion to the consumers.

Seem fair? You be the judge.

If you have an opinion you'd like to make known, drop us a line or comment.

iPod Hi-Fi Passes On

One last Apple post before we all vomit. It seems that a member of the iPod family has passed to the great beyond.

We mourn the death of the iPod Hi-Fi. The Hi-Fi has been removed from the Apple Store and doesn't appear in search results. Although shreds of its existence still remain on the iTunes/iPod page; it seems that the life of Apple's only stereo has come to an end. My it rest in peace.

[iPod Hi-Fi dies a quiet death] Think Secret

We've Got Shirts!

An important announcement! We now have shirts for sale! That's right! We've got a huge selection of styles and colors to choose from, and we also have mugs, magnets, and mousepads! We also have a wall clock coming down the pipeline, so watch for that too. Be sure to buy one for each of your friends and family members, too. The little profit that we receive will go towards the site and it's further development. So, what are you waiting for?! Whip those Visas out!

Fresh iPods Just As Expected

They've arrived. The new iPods are shiny, touchy-feely, and pretty much just what everyone was expecting; as usual. Crazy how that works out, doesn't it?

The nano now has video playback capabilities, and a brighter display. Although, I don't think a brighter screen will help heal the severe eye strain caused my watching a movie on the thing.

What came as a surprise to me is that they didn't completely scrap the full-size click wheel iPod. They slapped a classic label on it and bumped the HD capacities to 80 and 120 GB.

Now, the star of the show, the iPod Touch. Looking exactly like the iPhone, only smaller, the Touch is everything but the phone. It's got wi-fi, built-in iTunes Music Store, and the same cool interface as its bigger cousin. The only drawback is the paltry 8 and 16 GB drives. The cool factor may cancel that out for some people, though.

In other announcements, the iPhone will cost $399 by the holidays, so get your credit cards ready to spoil the kiddos! iTunes now has ringtone support, and Apple has partnered with Starbucks to offer an interesting service.

Imagine, your in your local Starbucks, and your connected to the internet with your iPod Touch or iPhone. You say, "Gee, what is that song that's playing?" Well, finding out is as simple as pushing the Starbucks button in the Music Store, and listed before your very eyes are the last five songs that have played at the Starbucks your currently in. The problem? Well, I don't know of many people who actually want to know what songs are playing.

Hmm... what was the name of that indecipherable new age song that just played? Could it have been John Tesh?

New Monopoly Uses Debit Cards, All Educational Value Lost

I was watching TV today, and a commercial appeared that left me in complete shock.

There was this girl, playing Monopoly with her family, and she was accepting payment for her father's purchase, WITH A DEBIT CARD. That's right. The new Monopoly Electronic Banking Edition gets rid of the paper, and brings in plastic cards that are programmed using a card reader. No more counting stupid money and learning how to be a responsible consumer! Next thing we know, they'll be adding credit cards, and chance cards that read: "Uh oh! Your adjustible rate mortgage on your highest valued property sextupled! You must pawn your game piece to pay it off. Then you must steal your friends game piece. You get caught. Go to jail."

Wow... I don't think they can squeeze that on the card. What fun.

Web 2.0 Hipsters Rejoice! Startup Schwag is Coming!

Actually, it's already here. The short-lived, but well-loved ValleySchwag inspired this new startup, which for a fee will send you all sorts of shirts, pens, and other goodies from fresh web startups. The first month's shipment will include a TechCrunch shirt, along with other trinkets. Not bad for $15 bucks a month. (Not including shipping.)

Palm Foleo Dies Quiet, Shameful Death

After blogs called for its execution, Palm quietly killed off the Foleo Project, so they could more effectively "focus all of [their] energies on delivering [their] next generation platform and the first smartphones that will bring this platform to market."

The Foleo was meant to be an extension of your smartphone; wirelessly connecting to provide a 10 inch screen and full-size QWERTY keyboard, along with a PC-like user interface.

It made question marks pop up above the heads of many a Palm fanboy, forcing many to ask, "Why?"

Palm says that the Foleo will return once their new platform is up and running.

BREAKING: Touch-Screen iPod Confirmed, Will Be Released Tomorrow

Hate to bother you shortly after another Apple article, but this is fo' sho'.

Think Secret has officially confirmed that a touch-screen iPod will be released tomorrow morning. The iPod nano will gain video playback features, as well as other features of the 5th gen iPod. New flashy animations will be added to the click wheel interface as well.

Stay tuned for more goodies come tomorrow.

Apple Show Tomorrow, New iPods Are Nigh

New iPods will for sure be revealed tomorrow at Moscone West, and the rumors are flowing like cheap wine through a Dallas hobo.

It's obvious that the iPods will be getting a major overhaul, especially in the UI department, as well as form factor. But what will it look like? Many think it will be short and fat, some think it will be thinner. Here's a rundown of what people are expecting both in size and features.

• Wireless Capability- Maybe a way to compete with the Zune's wireless feature? Could wi-fi even be possible? My wish is XM or Sirius compatibility. 'Cause your personal library has to get old sometimes.
• Touch-Screen iPod- this is what the majority of people are hoping for. Looks and behaves like an iPhone, but without the nuisance of a telephone. There has been evidence of patents and such by Apple of such technology.
• The Washington Post thinks that an iPhone nano is in the works.

Along with these theories, iPhone ringtones and the release of the Beatles catalog on the iTMS are expected. The Beatles catalog alone would make my day. And an iPhone that would wash my clothes...

Techoo Goes Primetime

Techoo is now a member of the big-leagues. Techoo.net is now live. Along with our new e-mail address, techline@techoo.net.

Consider the past few months as a soft opening. Now we're uptown.

Now we gotta pay for this. I'll see about getting a donation button up soon so you can show your gratitude, and also keep Techoo.net alive.

Me and Justin (,and hopefully more contributors in the future,) look forward to having you visit us at the new Techoo. Enjoy.

A Dream Realized

Remember all those timeless sci-fi movies you've seen featuring gadgets such as ray guns, teleporters, and such? Do you remember those sweet three-dimensional holographic projectors too? Modern day scientists have been working for ages to get that one "up and running in realtime," but really the closest they've ever gotten is projecting a somewhat 3D image onto a 2D surface--leaving geeks everywhere in dismay.

Well, it's time to put all that disappointment behind. Researchers at the University of Southern California have been working hard and have finally found a way. The minds at USC have developed a truly 3D holographic projector. I'm not exactly sure about all of the specifics, but I know the the projector works via a high-velocity, rapid-spin mirror that can produce some pretty astounding imagery. All I have to say is... It's about damn time.

Read more here.

Die-Hard Conservative? High School Football Fan? Then Fox Hilites Is For You!

Bible belt uber-conservative football fans now have a high school football site with their favorite news source's name plastered all over!

Fox is ready to exploit and over-hype all of your favorite high school teams and players in hopes of monetary gain. Users can post videos and commentary onto their favorite team's custom page. Then, out of nowhere, Giraldo Rivera will burst onto the screen, drawing the opposing teams play in the sand pit, thus spoiling any strategy or surprise to the game, and continuing his slow decline into oblivion.

Still wanna look? Sure.

The Weekender: School's In

Well, this will be the last weekend of me and Justin's summer vacation. We'll be pretty busy with school and everything, but we'll try our best to keep on truckin' quality content your way. We leave you this weekend with quite a delicious morsel for your visual enjoyment.

Patrick Melton, of Nobody Likes Onions fame, has cranked out a hilarious new video podcast with his fresh new character, Kyle Majestic. Kyle is a technology guru, with experience dating back to the early 90's. He's here to help answer your internet and general tech questions, and he likes to do it KYLE STYLE. Enjoy.




Kyle Majestic Tech Show - Show 1 from Patrick Melton and Vimeo.

New iPods To Be Released, Nano Pulls a Louie Anderson

Rumors are spinning about once again as another Apple press conference looms near. The new iPods are thought to be released on September 5th, which could include a slightly more, um, portly iPod Nano.

The rumored iPod Nano is shorter than it's current iteration, but is considerably chubbier, and rounder around the edges. Pictures have leaked on the interwebs of this new physique, only to be forcefully taken down by Apple Legal. The opinions of those who have spied the new iPod haven't all been positive, so say the least. Many people are calling it a step back from past versions.

I would love to put up a pic, but I'll pass on legal action for now.

Google To Kill Off Video Store

Now that they own YouTube, Google is finally giving up on their paid video service. On the 15th, they will shut down all operations and make ALL videos unwatchable. Yes, even the ones you paid for, fair and square. As a parting gift, Google is giving away $2 Google Checkout coupons to those who purchased videos on the site.

Personally, I don't blame them. Sure, the $2 bucks is kind of a useless gesture, but they'll probably be saving a lot more than that by killing off YouTube's retarded cousin.

As First iPhone Bills Come In, Postal Service Enjoys Massive Profits

A writer for ars technica just got his first iPhone bill in. No, it wasn't the price that floored him, for that was probably reasonable, but the sheer size of the physical bill itself was mind-boggling.

His bill was 52 pages long, with every page printed on both sides, which adds up to 104 pages. Each page excruciatingly describes every single data transfer the iPhone made in the past billing period. The bill even came in its own oversized envelope! Don't believe me? LOOK!

Slash Those Prices

This week Microsoft finally announced a price reduction for their ever-popular-yet-notoriously-expensive gaming console, the Xbox 360. A price drop of around $50 will be effective for each package available:

• Core: now $279.99
• Premium: now $349.99
• Elite: now $449.99
  

This was an expected move from Microsoft, seeing as how rival Sony just recently dropped the price of their console: the PS3. Sony wisely chose to lower the price of their 60GB model from $599 to $499 in response to "lower-than-expected sales of the console."

Microsoft hopes that the price cut will open the wallets... er... I mean minds of previously unreached consumers, resulting in a much sought-after increase in sales. As for me, I just bought mine off of eBay.

For more information, see Xbox.com.

New iMacs Out Today, Price Jacked Up

The rumors have ended up being true. Not only was a new Apple keyboard released today, but so was a new iMac to match.

These suckers look pretty good. Made of aluminum, glass and black plastic it gives a darker, more somber feel to the Mac. Guess you could say the iMac is in its Temple of Doom phase. The 17" model was killed off, and now only 20" and 24" models remain. The entry price has also went up to $1199; too rich for my cheapskate blood. They're also loaded with Core 2 Duo processors, high-end ATI graphics, and other goodies.

The Mac Mini also got an upgrade, although not cosmetically, today as well. The only present it received was Core 2 Duo processors and 1 gig of RAM standard.

A good day for Apple.

The Weekender: Stupid, Yet Awesome Commercials

We leave you this weekend with a nice treat from the great folks at The Consumerist. I read this blog almost every day, and whenever they roll out a new "Great Moment in Commercial History," it's time for celebration. Here's a few of my favorites.

This is from The Mattress Ranch. You must assume that if a store considers itself a ranch full of mattresses, you're in for a wild ride. A crazed old man invites you to come see him at the fair, and then dances as if having a convulsion. Not only is he dancing, but so are cute kids and a creepy enlarged likeness of the old man! The Serta sheep ain't got crap on this.



Now we call on the credit pimp to get you in a car. No credit? Bad credit? No problem! We'll get you financed in a '98 Oldsmobile Silhouette financed over 128 months!



Detroit isn't only the home of makers of overpriced cars, but it's also home to transvestite exterminators!



This one isn't too exciting until the end. Fast forward if you like, you won't be missing much.



The way this man pronounces Christmas is worth suffering blindness after seeing his demonic grin.



I would put more, but that would just defeat the purpose of visiting The Consumerist.

Turn Old Crap Gadgets Into Cash With SecondRotation

If you, like me, are tired of dealing with dirty Frenchmen on eBay, you'll love selling your old tech crap to Second Rotation. This is a great business model. You look up your product, tell them its condition, and they'll give you a price and shipping label. Throw your product in a box, stick on the label, and wave bye-bye. I've checked their quotes on a few gadgets, and they're not that bad. They offer just slightly less than they think they can make on eBay or another shopping site. It's simple, easy, and can make getting rid of your ugly-ass SonyEricsson cell phone all the more easier.

No BitTorrent? No Problem! BitLet To The Rescue!

Too lazy to download a 2MB BitTorrent client? Or maybe wanting to download a file onto a friends computer without installing crap he/she will probably never use again? Well BitLet, a new startup, allows you to download any torrent via web-based java client. Just paste the torrent's URL and select a download destination, and BitLet does the rest. A very spiffy-looking page, as well.

[BitLet: A Cute Web-Based BitTorrent Client] TorrentFreak

An Etch-A-Sketch GAME?! Hell, no!

Hell yes, angry title man! A game developer in India has partnered with a California publisher to create an ETCH-A-SKETCH game. It's rumored to be web-based, for the PC, and MAC. There's also a chance of console versions being produced.

Despite the awesomeness, I don't think I would pay for a digital version of a product I already suck at using. I can barely make lines, much less shapes.

[Finally, Etch A Sketch The Game] Kotaku

Find a Job While Losing Another: Jobster on Facebook

Tired of your old 9 to 5? Want to make both your boss and sysadmin mad? Well, chug-a-lug on over to Facebook and add the Jobster application. Jobster seems to really know what they're doing. How it works is that you add the app, pick a "talent network," which is a job sector you'd like to connect with, and employers' hiring managers have the ability to directly connect to you. A great concept. Next time I'm in the job market, I'll give this a shot.

[Jobster Launches Advanced Job Search for Facebook] Mashable

HP Finally Releases Pricey, Big-Ass Laptop

Louie Anderson has been recreated in laptop form. Behold the HP HDX entertainment laptop. I'm not much of a HP fan, but this is pretty sweet. Although friggin' huge, the feature set makes up for it.

The base model, ringing up at around $2,750, includes a 20-inch HD screen, 2GB of RAM, a 512MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, and a full keyboard. That's right. This puppy is so big that it's got a 10-key pad. The weight, you ask? 15.5 powerful pounds. This is a big 'un.

WTF?! Microsoft now Digg's Ad Company

Kevin Rose and the rest of the gang at Digg have scored a somewhat surprising deal with Microsoft to sell their ads. It's odd, but hey, whatever pays the bills, right? Here's a quote from Rose on the Digg blog:

This move gives us an advertising partner with a larger organization and a more scalable technology platform to keep pace with Digg’s growth. Best of all, it lets the Digg team completely focus on new feature development. Federated Media, which has been an awesome partner for the last year and a half, will continue working with Digg focusing on integrated sponsorships and custom programs like the Arc project in labs.

This should make no difference whatsoever to your digging experience, hopefully. I just thought everyone would like to know.

The Great Vista Skip

Last week at Microsoft's Global Exchange (MGX) annual sales conference, a little info was shared concerning the next Microsoft OS. "Windows Seven," as it is internally called at Microsoft, seems like it might come out sooner than some may have believed, however there could of course be several problems that cause a delay in it's release. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, an attendee of the conference, writes, "Last time anyone got Microsoft to talk dates about Windows Seven, the next big Windows client release, a Windows exec slipped up and said something about 2009."

So, if the next Windows client is supposed to be released somewhere between 2009 and 2010, how will that information impact a user's decision to make the switch from XP to Vista? Also, since there seems to be more and more delays on SP1 for Vista, how will those two pieces of information combined impact such a decision?

As for me, I can wait. I tried Vista and found it irritating almost instantly. I converted back to XP and have been livin' it up ever since. My opinion (not that it counts for much) is that this era shall become known as "The Great Vista Skip." No use in switching now if Microsoft already has bigger and better in the making...

Thanks to Zoomba and ZDNet for the inspiration and info for this article.

No Vista SP1 'Till '09?

Rumor has it that MS has notified their execs that a service pack for Vista may not be released until 2009.

Microsoft didn't need this to leak out, since they've already pissed off most major PC makers already. The CEO of Acer was quoted saying that "the entire industry is disappointed by Vista." Sales of PC's haven't skyrocketed with Vista either. Past versions of Windows have brought lots of happy faces to PC makers, but not this time around. I mean, we all know the vast numbers of PC's Acer sells, right? Tens of people across the world every day line up for the chance of snagging one of those beauties. Right?

The Weekender: Don Johnson Sings!

Hey, remember Miami Vice? Of course you do. Don Johnson? Hell, yes! He was friggin' Sonny Crockett for God's sake! Did you know he could sing? Ummmmmm...

Don Johnson's runaway hit single is served piping hot just for you on this week's weekender.



Circa 1986, this cheesy gem of a video is just one of Johnson's smash hits on his debut album, Heartbeat. It sold like hotcakes, and it seemed that Sonny was headed to quite a career in music...until his second album. What's he up to now? Commentating last year's Super Bowl and raking in royalties from Nash Bridges!

SATURDAY CHALLENGE: Can you spot Paul Shaffer from David Letterman fame in this video?

Apple, Dell, HP Release Earnings Reports; Gateway Still Sucks

Apple's 2nd Quarter 2007 U.S. market share was up to 5.6% of U.S. shipments. This tied Apple in 3rd place with Gateway for U.S. market share for this quarter. Dell and HP were well ahead at 28.4% and 23.6%.

read more | digg story

Camera Made for YouTubers: Sony Net-Sharing Cam

YouTube cinematographers now have a camera all they're own. Sony is whipping up a sweet looking entry-level camera specially designed for those who frequently publish videos on the internet. The built-in memory can hold up to five hours of video. It even comes with software that makes it easier to upload vids to the web.

Although it looks cool both by design and on paper, Crave says that the specs on this little shooter are lackluster, at best. Even though it can shoot at both 15fps or 30fps, it has no zoom feature whatsoever and costs $200. A little pricey for the few features included. If I were an avid YouTube director, I'd either pay for a good camera with movie mode or splurge and go for an actual camcorder. With this puppy, you're pretty much buying the name.

Stupid As Hell: Custom-Made Action Figures

Just stick with me on this. There's this company, called HeroBuilders, that will make a tiny version of your likeness for a cool $425. You send a picture, pick the clothes and props, and they will proceed to immortalize you in plastic. The initial $425 is for the first action figure, and the price for extra figures is $39.95 for non-talking and $49.95 for a custom talking mini-you. Talk about being conceited! Visit the link below to see example photos and more information.

[HeroBuilders]
[You Too Can Be an Action Figure] Gizmodo

BREAKING: Peter Moore Leaves Xbox

Can't tell if this is good news or bad news. The daddy of the Xbox 360 is leaving his post today as president of the Xbox division of Microsoft. This comes right after the end of the now shrunken E3 convention and massive Xbox hardware and warranty problems. It couldn't have anything to do with Microsoft losing gobs and gobs of money on each Xbox the sell, could it? Naaaaah.

Powered by ScribeFire.

RIM Unveils Blackberry 8820, Stays Badass.

Research In Motion has rolled out another perfect cellular device to satiate the demands of Blackberry addicts around the globe.

The Blackberry 8820 has a buttload, for lack of a better word, amount of features, including Wi-Fi capability, compatibility on GSM, GPRS, and EDGE networks, noise cancellation, and a GPS system. Oh there's more, but I only have so much time in a day, and I have to dream about getting one myself, since my current phone is much crappier.

[RIM Announces the Blackberry 8820 Smartphone] Marketwire

Touch 'n Go

Bill's not leaving without a bang! One of Microsoft's latest toys is to be released in November of this year and is going to absolutely take your breath away.

Project "Milan" a.k.a. Microsoft Surface is a fun, new way to get the job done for an amazing computing experience. This little table/PC uses a multitouch screen to recognize natural motions, common gestures, and even electronic devices.

These babies are pretty fancy and come with a pretty price tag to match--Microsoft says that pricing will be around $5,000 to $10,000 per unit. For a closer look you can go to the Surface website. Better start savin'!

Crap I Love: Chumby

I've been gawking at this ever since I stumbled across it on TechCrunch about a year ago.

Chumby is a little stuffed ball with a touch sensitive screen that acts basically as an interactive, web-connected alarm clock. Imagine! Waking up in bed to a custom playlist, then picking up your alarm clock and checking weather, email, even RSS feeds and flickr photos, FROM YOUR BED. A dream come true? You better believe it. It's also hackable and completely customizable. They even encourage writing new programs, decorating it to your every whim, and pretty much anything else you can think of doing with a stuffed computer.

They're getting ready to start selling these puppies by the end of the summer at about $150 a pop.

OMG! Bowling!!!!! On The WII!!!!1!!!

If Wii Sports bowling wasn't enough for ya, then the ultimate bowling game for the Wii is on its way. Brunswick branded, no less.

Brunswick Pro Bowling is the bowling addicts dream. It even looks like and old, greasy, overused Brunswick bowling alley! Much of the mechanics are like that of Wii Sports, but in this flavor you can play to unlock special balls each with their own unique design and trajectory. Any way you slice it, it's better than spending a few hours choking on smoke and the smell of sweat at the Varsity Bowl.

More info and screens from the great folks at Kotaku.

Super Geeky: Learn Python Fast

Some people want to find the perfect reference. The ONLY book they'll ever need to learn a programming language in the shortest time possible. Well, that book doesn't exist. Even though the perfect Python book is an impossible dream, we can still get a pretty darn good article that claims it can teach you Python in as little as 10 minutes!

Now it's not the definitive guide for Python by any means. It's just a little starter guide to get you happily on your way to learning one of the best programming languages ever made.

[Learn Python in 10 Minutes] dzone.com

Freakin' Sweet: Xbox360 Chatpad To Be Released

Oh, joy! Now you can actually chat on Xbox Live with a miniature QWERTY keyboard that connects to your controller!

The Chatpad has been given to a few high-profile bloggers and gaming sites to try out, with much fanfare. Now the gadget gets a set price and release date. The Chatpad will be sold bundled with a 360 head set for the low price of $29.99, and is to be released on September 4th.

Open Source Cell Phone Hits Online Shelves

For those who hate the iPhone and/or AT&T, there is a solution in the flavor of open source. At 300 buckaroonies, the Neo1973 by OpenMoko is usable on all GSM networks, and it's completely, 100% hackable and open. Many of its features are the same than that of the iPhone. Here's the specs from OpenMoko, since they're website has been getting pounded by diggers. (Take it easy, Digg.)

• 2.8" VGA TFT color display
  
• Touchscreen, usable with stylus or fingers
  
• 266MHz Samsung System on a Chip (SOC)
  
• USB 1.1, switchable between Client and Host (unpowered)
  
• Integrated AGPS
  
• 2.5G GSM – quad band, voice, CSD, GPRS
  
• Bluetooth 2.0
  
• Micro SD slot
  
• High Quality audio codec
  

Sweet? Yes.

Teens Desire iPhone Over New Car, Teens Growing Increasingly Stupid.

Okay. Think about this. You're 16, and a shiny new car (your favorite kind of car) is sitting next to an iPhone. Which one would you pick for a gift? Well, according to one recent report, teens would pick the phone. THE PHONE. I fear for my generation. Sure they may be saving on gas, but maybe you could ask for a hybrid? But noooooooo, kids want their flashy-ass phones to flaunt down the street, or sidewalk, rather, since you WON'T HAVE A CAR.

read more | digg story

Chess is Cool, Right?

Oh yeah, it is. Although I'm an embarrassment to the game, the people who make it look easy now have a place all to their selves at Chess.com. Fellow players can socialize and play chess with one another, read chess related articles and download chess programs for PC to Palm. They even have lessons, so maybe I should get in on this.

[Chess.com: A Social Networking Site For...Well You Could Probably Guess] TechCrunch

Goodies for Your iPhone

Oh, come now! You didn't think you were going to get away with finding a new blog that didn't cover the iPhone, did you? We can't be a decent tech blog without the obligatory iPhone blabber.

For those of you that actually have the shiny, glassy, pricy gem of a phone, you may be looking for some apps to outfit you're already near-perfect cellular experience. There aren't many out at the moment, but these should be pretty good once released.

Trillian Astra for iPhone: Chattin' on the iPhone will soon be much easier with Cerulean Studios' new version of their Trillian messenger client. It's not open to the public just yet, but you can sign up as an alpha user and it will be available to download soon. [Engadget article]

OneTrip Shopping List: A yet-to-be-developed web app to turn your $500 phone into a $500 grocery list! Hooray! All joking aside, it actually looks quite useful, and pretty, as well.

Gas.app: A super cool gas price search engine, giving you the price, name of station, and a link to a Google map to the station. You can also actually use it! Just visit gasapp.com on your iPhone.

Telekinesis: Control your Mac remotely with your iPhone with this nifty app. Stream video and music from your desktop, take iSight pictures, run remote Applescript, and much more. [iPhone Application List]

For more apps, these lists should be a big help.

[iPhone Application List]

[Top 10 iPhone Applications] Lifehacker

Let’s Get Started: Gaming Machine Under $600

Ever dreamed of having the best gaming PC in your town? Want your friend's jaws to drop when they see your silicon beast breeze through the most sophisticated of first-person shooters? Have you ever crashed back down to reality when you open up the wallet? Well, the folks at TechReport have whipped up one heckuva system for the paltry price of $538.44. A rundown of the specs and more configurations up to $3,000 await when you click below.

TR's July 2007 System Guide [TechReport.com]

Under Construction

We're workin' on it, mmmkay? More to come...much more.

Techoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!