Checkout Google Checkout

Google is out to organize the world, and today’s Google release toward that end is Google Checkout, a service that lets users make purchases online using payment and shipping information they keep on file with Google.

Eric E Schmidt, Google’s chief executive says the aim is to make it easier and faster for people to buy products advertised on Google, thus attracting more advertisers. This idea is similar to Paypal, a company owned by Ebay. Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo offer similar services. The advantage to merchants is that Google will waive some or all of the transaction fees for companies that buy advertising from them.

This strategy is sure to heat up the competition among the various companies that offer this "wallet" service. Yahoo is partnering up with Ebay, which will encourage yahoo advertisers to use Payapal for payment processing. PayPal will also be promoted as the online wallet for use on Yahoo services.

All these services are wonderful, but it makes me wonder. When I do a Yahoo or a Google search, am I getting their advertisers to pop up or am I getting a result based on my query? I think that’s a rhetorical question.

Unlocked Phones: Good or Bad???

Many cell phone carriers want you to think that you are limited to purchasing their brand of phones. But it is possible to buy a Cingular phone, and use it on T-mobile, and vice-versa. The phone needs to be "unlocked" and it is becoming a very popular thing to do with phones. PC Magazine has an excellent discussion on this subject, which was prompted by a letter to them. It’s good information, and well worth reading.

Imagine the Possibilities with….

…..a NEW keyboard from Microsoft!

Microsoft Hardware is pushing the innovation envelope and introducing industry firsts to help you move from work to play with cutting-edge performance and total style.

Can a keyboard create its own mood lighting? Respond to you? Enlighten you? Move with you? The ultimate desktop can with ambient backlighting, proximity sensing and 30-feet of range.

Check the ULTIMATE KEYBOARD out and click on the Experience it first here to see a demo of this very cool keyboard!

Want a FREE MP3 Player? Checkout Napster!

Napster is giving out FREE MP3 players to those of you that subscribe to Napster To Go

•Listen to music online and offline with no play limits or ads. Choose from over 2 Million CD-quality tracks.

•Get personalized recommendations based on the music you listen to.

•Enjoy hundreds of pre-programmed playlists or create your own.

•Keep all the music you download for as long as you continue your subscription.

….and for a little bit more each month you can have all the benefits of a Napster subscription, plus you can fill and refill your compatible MP3 player without paying per track. Now that is cool!

Check it out here

miniPlayer lands in America

The Meizu miniPlayer is a device thats has already been released in the Far East, but it has made it across to the US.

The slim and sexy miniPlayer crams in more features than a nano, and it costs less… The titchy tunebox sizes up at a respectably tiny 10-millimetres thick, packing more features than the iPod nano in a shell only slightly larger.

American punters can get their orders in now, and it’ll only set them back about £120 for a 4-gig version, ready for delivery around August.

[Read more]

smell-recording device becomes a reality

I have been waiting for my own jet pack and personal robot for a few years now [damn you sci-fi programs and you high expectations of the 21ST Century], and I was hoping by now that I would be taken vacations on the moon and pleasure rides around Saturn, still it is not all bad, here is a gadget that is straight out of a science fiction story: a machine that can record a smell and play it back to you at your leisure. Present it with a designer perfume or freshly baked bread and it will analyse the odour and reproduce it for you later using a mixture of non-toxic chemicals.

Engineers hope a successful smell-recording device could be useful for online shopping - allowing customers to smell products before buying them - or to add another dimension to television. It could even be used by doctors to remotely diagnose patients, by recreating the smell of blood, bile or urine to help with a diagnosis.

[Read more]

iPod = Altoids?

Looking for a unique case for you iPod?  One that will give protection while it bounces around in your purse or briefcase? If so, give the TinPod a look. It is the size of an Altoids tin, so don’t confuse them.

TINPODs are constructed of tin, making them sturdy and durable. The top comes equipped with ports for your headset. The interiors have a thin neoprene padding to provide shock protection. They are compatible with the following iPods: 3rd generation (10, 15, & 20gb), 4th generation (20 & 30gb), and 5th generation (30 & 60gb). What makes these cases so stylish is the artwork from renowned illustrator Kurt Ketchum. These are limited edition cases of 5,000 each. With millions of iPods, and only 5,000 of each case, these could become collector’s items. At $16.95, they are a great deal.

 

Google launches payment service

Search giant Google has launched an online payments system which aims to compete with auction giant eBay. Dubbed Google Checkout, the system is designed to boost Google’s main source of revenue - selling advertising.

The service offers some free order processing to Google’s millions of advertisers, but will initially be available only to stores in the US. EBay unit Paypal is the market leader in online payments. EBay stock slipped ahead of Checkout’s launch.

Checkout’s long testing process - it has been in the works for a year or more - has meant that rumours have been rife about the service, which many had dubbed "Gbuy" .

[Read more]

Block Stacking - A BIG Box!

Block stacking taken to outrageous extremes with Big Box of Blox!

Astraware and Digital Eel are excited to announce the release of Big Box of Blox for Palm OS(R) and Windows Mobile(R) handhelds.

Big Box of Blox is a block stacking game taken to outrageous extremes! Using stylus or button controls, players arrange the three-blox-high stacks as they fall. Match blox in groups of three or more, vertically or horizontally, to eliminate them - but that’s not all!

Don’t just stack the blox. Smash them, blast them, mutate them or explode them in a shower of flames! Use special blox including jokers, bombs, frogs, mushrooms, fireballs and slot machines to clear the board before it reaches the top!

Choose from five exciting game modes: Flaming Peelout, Blok Atak, Groink, Mushroom King and Asylum Cubez or even create your own combination using the special Custom Mode. Faithful to the critically-acclaimed PC version, Big Box of Blox features cool psychedelic graphics, awe-inspiring animated backgrounds, brain crunching sound effects and an epic music soundtrack. The game’s graphics reflect the dark and mysterious nature of the PC original, but PDA owners are sometimes known to go outside into the light, so Big Box of Blox also includes a gamma adjustment slider so you can select anywhere from dark and atmospheric to vibrant and acidic.

[Read more]

Apple - firmware update for its 17in MacBook Pro.

Some of you out there will have bought one of the Intel Apples, and unless you have been brave enough to crack it open will be suffering from the excessive heat.. Seems like the apple have finally got round to giving a partial solution….

Apple has posted a firmware update for its 17in MacBook Pro. The patch adjusts the machine’s System Management Controller (SMC), a device that monitors and manages Intel-based Macs’ power-related functions. Its duty roster includes overseeing the battery, the sleep light in the lid latch and monitoring the hard drive’s sudden motion sensor. It also runs the notebook’s fans and, according to Apple’s typically terse update notice, the update "adjusts fan behavior" on the 17in machine. Today’s release follows similar SMC firmware updates for the 15in MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac Mini released in May. Those updates also addressed "boot issues", Apple said at the time. The 15in MacBook Pro update does appear to have reduced some high-heat issues reported in early machines, though some users still complain the notebook’s aluminium casing gets too hot.

 

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Take Me Out To The Ballgame, 21st Century Style

High tech is finally making in roads with America’s favorite past time, baseball. A few weeks ago, there were reports that major league teams were outfitting their pitchers with video iPods so they could study the batters as they were getting ready for the game. This is a major league use of technology. So how do they do it in the minor leagues? C/Net offers an insight to how the minor league teams are also getting into the high tech world, and in some of the most unlikely places. The teams they look at are way down on the ladder to major league stardom, but only on the field. The writer tells about going to Pasco, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and finding that both stadiums were WiFi equipped. What will they think of next? Video teleconferencing instead of the coach walking out to the mound. Who knows?

 

 

Traffic.com Offers Freedom from Gridlock on Fourth of July Weekend

Dial 1-866-MY-TRAFC for Free, Real-Time Traffic Reports On-the-Go

Regardless of gas prices and expected congestion, millions of Americans will hit the road this weekend for the Fourth of July holiday. Whether heading to the beach or the local firework festivities, traffic seems sure to cause frustration — but now there’s a new way to free drivers from holiday traffic hassles.

Traffic.com the source for the most accurate, comprehensive, and real-time traffic information in the United States, has launched a free, interactive traffic hotline for drivers — 1-866-MY-TRAFC (1-866-698-7232) to help drivers avoid those holiday traffic jams.

[Read more]

JAJAH - Free Global Calling

Erik Larkin from PC World wrote an article today on Jajah’s Free Telephone Service" which is a new plan offering free international long distance calls. You use your existing service couples with Jajah’s VoIP equipment.

So what is JAJAH Free Global Calling?

JAJAH Free Global Calling allows you to make free local and international phone calls. It applies to land line and mobile calls to and within: the United States; Canada; China; Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, and to landline calls to and within: Australia; UK; Germany; France, Italy and most other European nations.

It applies when both call participants are registered and active JAJAH users. In countries where free phone calls are not available, or if someone is calling a non-JAJAH member, calls are subject to JAJAH’s regular low rates.

Interested? Find out more here

 

 

Verizon Wireless to prorate early termination fees

C/Net is reporting that Verizon Wireless plans to prorate its early termination fees this fall. Based upon customer complaints, this proration will appease customers and have little impact on finances for Verizon.

I am sure this will start the ball rolling for other providers…

 

 

HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray: Deja vu All Over Again

Yogi Berra said it best. "It’s deja vu all over again". There are more and more Blu-Ray and HD DVD models on the market, more are coming, and even video game consoles are choosing up sides. For those of us young enough (or old enough, depending on your age) to remember the Beta vs. VHS war of the ’80s, here we go again.

PC Magazine has a primer with basic information on what the two types of DVD players are, their pros and cons, and who is making what, and when will it be available. Since the initial cost of these beasts will not be cheap, a little education now can go a long way to saving some money down the road.