If you like the Nintendo Wii, and I mean, who doesn't, and you live in the areas in which Charter Internet offers service, then you are in good luck. Sign up now for your chance to put two great things together. With your sign up to Charter, you'll be entered into a contest to win a Nintendo Wii. But wait, are you an internet lover too? We'll the whole contest is about that. It is called Charter High Speed Internet for Life so the grand prize is internet for life but a Wii isn't all that bad.
All you have to do is register and possibly place a bid in the auction for internet for life. Bidding starts at $10 so there's no knowing where it will stop. Keep your head up high because bidding will probably be strong.
When you win the prize you'll get a complete Nintendo Wii system.
Including a Nintendo Wii Console, a Wii Stand, Wii Sports which includes boxing, tennis, golf, bowling, and baseball, 1 Remote Controller, 1 Nunchuk Controller, 1 Sensor Bar, 1 Wii AC Adapter and 1 Wii AV Cable.
So that's a complete package to play the games.
All Charter internet services come with added extras like firewall, anti-virus, and spam-filtering software and parental controls, 10 e-mail addresses per account, extra online storage, personal Web space. Charter is fully loaded so you'll never be alone in our cruel world.
The helpdesk which is available 24/7.
To enter go to Charter.
Are you an iPhone owner with some time on your hands. We'll have I got a site for you. This is an online community dedicated to providing you with a fix for your Apple iPhone. If you are an iPhone SDK Developer then this site is for you as well. They just opened a chat room so you can interact much more easily on their site with technical support and more. For those of you people who have no clue what an iPhone SDK Developer is, you aren't alone. First off it stands for iPhone Software Development Kit which empowers developers to plug gaps in the iPhone’s functionality.
With Planet iPhone, you'll have access to forums, downloads, applications, chat, and more. It's an interactive site where you'll be able to share and learn many new things. The website also is good at keeping you updated with news and events related to the Apple iPhone and sometimes iPod Touch. For example, they have a new story on ZiPhone 3.0, an application for your iPhone. I highly recommend this website to all you iPhone owners as it will help you expand your iPhone to do more incredible things. Learn more about iPhone SDK Developers here.
Nowadays there are so many choices in electronics out there including cell phones, game consoles, and other things. It's now so hard to choose so why not get both at the same time. At Mobile Express you can get the phone deals. With a good mobile phone contracts offered by Mobile Express you'll be able to talk all you want with who you want when you want.
When you buy from them you can also have the opportunity to get those other favourite electronics that you desire such as an iPod Touch, game console like the XBOX 360 and PS3 and other cool electronics. They offer phones from networks including O2, Orange, and T-Mobile.
Their website is great and interactive so you'll have no problem finding what you are looking for and more. Another question that you may be asking is, wouldn’t there prices be high then? In fact, it’s quite the contrary. At Mobile Express they have competitive pricing to match other phone companies offering you the same phone.
There are so many great gifts that I urge you to take me up on this offer before it's too late. Head over to Mobile Express now and start looking.
T-Mobile has had some of the best ads in North America but they do lack the phones necessary to compete in the harsh American market. Somehow though they know what to do in the European market and have used that to better themselves. Dial-a-phone offers many deals on TMobile phones and they provide good information on each and every one of them. Each phone has different plans offered from T Mobile and even one of them gives you a free Sony PSP slim with the purchase of the plan and the phone. Dial-a-phone has remarkable deals that you should take charge of. There is no doubt in my mind that you will be amazed at what kind of things you can combine with minutes, texts and phones.
Houses these days are getting older and older by the minute. Who am I kidding, everything does. What better way to renovate your houses than with Anglian Home Improvements. This is a trusted UK company since 1966 with customers as there number one priority.
Windows and Doors are just some of their specialties alongside of conservatories, driveways, roof trim, garage doors, and many more. To compare the quality of there service to something I've experienced I'd use the web hosting product I bought from Low Cost Webspace. I spent hours with him familiarizing myself with the program that would be the backbone for another website. This kind of commitment is transparent to the kind of service you will get at Anglian Home Improvements.
Also in the days of global warming they care about the environment so they use strict guidelines to help protect our precious system and preserve our wildlife.
Whether you want to do a small job or a large scale job, Anglian Home Improvements
will be there for you providing superb customer care and great quality products.
Two days ago rumours were swirling about a possible Microsoft takeover of Yahoo and at mid-afternoon yesterday, a bid was put into place by Microsoft. A hostile takeover bid at $31 per share, a premium over Yahoo's actual stock price. This is the largest takeover bid made by a technology company by far with the HP-Compaq deal coming in far second.
Yahoo says the deal will take time to review but if it does get accepted, then the US anti trust laws won't stop it. This could mean many things, all of which I'm not sure of. One things for certain though, the search engine landscape will definitely change, hopefully for the better. My only question is, what will happen to both Yahoo.com and Live.com. Will one go defunct and just merge together? Will names change? That will all be found out later.
When I heard about ths site I was game for it and went to sign up. I am a huge Halo fan, although I'll admit I'm not totally informed so I was intrigued as to what this site would offer. Maybe I could learn a thing or two about my favourite game. This is my chance to dive into the exciting world of Halo. I just started playing Guitar Hero yesterday, yes just yesterday and I was amazed as to how addicting it was. My friends had told me that it was really good and wondered why I didn't want to try it. Another friend, like me, didn't know what all the hype was and didn't care whether or not she played it but then she played it and was hooked. Today I played Rock Band with 5 other friends and I can say it's an amazing game and I've gone from easy to medium in one day. A huge feat for someone like me.
Now back to the storey. Basically WeGame is a YouTube for gamers where they allow you to watch videos, upload, or record your own. There are many new video sites now opening for different topics like cooking, How-To, high quality videos, and many, many others. This is no exception and coupled with a short and sweet name with great site design, it is sure to be a hit.
The quality is pretty decent with 600kbps, double that of YouTube but the videos seem to be at a minimum. That's all about to change.
WeGame offers a desktop client to help minimize the pain that comes along with uploading gameplay content to sites. The desktop client works with DirectX to capture screencasts from the game without slowing it down and outputs it to AVI files that are small and can be uploaded quickly to the web. I tested the client to give you readers a low down on exactly how it works.
WeGame steps in by providing a free desktop client that works tightly with DirectX to capture screencasts from within games without slowing them down significantly. It also outputs those screencasts to AVI files that are small enough for quick uploading to the web, a process that occurs from within the client itself. To record a screencast, just hit a special key while in-game to start and then stop recording. Once you���ve exited the game, you can click the ���Upload to WeGame��� button, choose a title and description, and the client will convert the AVI file to Flash and publish to the WeGame site directly. Check out a screenshot of the client to the left to see what the interface for this looks like.
WeGame is an interesting site and will surely be able to spark some interest on the World Wide Web so hit it up next time you are looking to play a video game.
"By mid-2007 Google and other Internet giants had convinced the Federal Communications Commission to require that any company that won a January auction for a set of national cellular wireless licenses must allow consumers to use any device and any legal application on that company's network. Furthermore, late in the year Google, along with three dozen partners, unveiled plans to construct an open-source cellular phone platform known as Android."
As noted, things are about to change and with that camcorders, handset interfaces, the ability to run any program, and, most important, gain access to underlying hardware for finding directions, making calls over Wi-Fi, and taking pictures. Android will try and help make this possible as it will allow application developers easy access to the hardware installed on a certain phone which can include GPS chips, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and many other things.
Open phone platforms are the new wave and it can enable easier interaction with remote services that store information. Out of the box, the phone can have amazing capabilities that only some people can install on their phone. The iPhone will allow such access as it uses a version of Apple's Unix-based OX. One thing that could possibly happen is you are making a call while taking notes on the phone.
With an open phone platform, many companies can offer you free or paid services. Currently only your own service provider can offer you services which limits development and can mean higher costs. Everybody knows, more competition means better programs and services plus lower costs.
Big things are about to happen and so I suggest if you are in the market for a phone right now, either hold it off for a year or so or pick a phone with hardware capable of supporting new technology that will be a great asset in the future. A good example is the iPhone or consider a Symbian based Nokia.
The laptops that will be offered this year will not be out of this world but they will include some small, yet nifty things. Consumer demand always forces this and so you get a new line of laptops for 2008. Blu-Ray optical drives and LED backlights are just some of the things that will be going into the more mainstream laptop. In the age of global warming it'd be weird not to mention more environmentally features on the new and improved models. A screen size increase is also in order but the funny thing is it's only a .2inch increase that is expected over the standard 15.4inch.These things will help make laptops get more colour and provide more quality with movies. It would be interesting to see though what would happen if HD DVD got some momentum and Blu-Ray eventually went bankrupt. Currently backlight equipment is usually CCFL's, Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps, but with LED backlights taking the spotlight, it will reduce the power and make it more viable to make the laptop thinner much like the MacBook Air.
WiMax has made huge gains, but also has made huge steps back. This includes what has happened in many large cities where plans have fallen apart. San Fransisco is back on track and Toronto is hopefully hot on there heels. In light of all this, notebook manufacturers are including WiMax technology onto their laptops which is surprising as WiMax is still in its early stages. Finally, internet TV is making its way onto many people monitors, desktop and laptop and so expect to see tuners pre-installed and better webcams ranging up to 3 megapixel with an average of 2-MP.
There has been much hype about the first service pack from Microsoft for Windows Vista. During the release of Vista, as much of you know, people have been extremely disappointed with it and have been downgrading to XP as they see it as a more reliable, faster, and more secure operating system. Now the same goes with Leopard as many aren't that happy with it, with flaws related to security and features. The main difference is Apple released fixes fairly quickly and in large numbers while Microsoft has failed to do much. I myself see the ups and downs of Vista and I can't wait for the new service pack which is as we speak on testers computers. They have just released an update to its first release to beta testers. This all means that the final version of Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 is close to its release. There is an official release date now announced for February 27, 2008 behind the speculated release date of February 15. They are planning a launch event on that day and so it seems obvious that both Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 will be released if not on that date, then very close to it. If SP1 tanks, then Vista will for sure tank as many corporations wait till the first service pack so they can make sure the operating system is in good working order.
I am sad to say this but the Porn industry has switched to Blu as of today January 13, 2008. This time around though, the porn industry won't have a big an effect as it did with VHS vs. Betamax. Back then, most porn movies were bought in a physical format, but nowadays, most purchasing happens online so there is not much need for a high-def disc.
While this is not much of an update to most of you, I just found out today that Toshiba is offering 5 Free HD DVD movies with the purchase of one of their players including the XBOX 360 HD DVD add-on. This is all on top of the two included HD DVD movies, 300 and Bourne Identity. For $10 to cover S&H you will get 5 HD DVD movies of your choice delivered right to your door. There is a restriction though. Basically there are 5 categories with 3 movies in each. You are only allowed to pick one HD DVD movie from each category. My favourite movies from each were Babel, TMNT, Pitch Black, Firewall, and Syriana. The offer is valid only for players bought from October 15 2007-February 28 2008 and needs to be postmarked by March 31 2008. This is an extremely good offer and should help HD DVD gain some more market share. I'm just surprised they haven't promoted it as much. I only found out about this by stumbling upon it. For Canadian residents visit Toshiba Canada (exact link for the form). For American residents visit here. The only difference in movies is you can get Troy, Swordfish, and The Italian Job.
The other update is mostly for US residents. HD DVD players have been dramatically slashed in price. For a 1080p HD DVD player (HD-A30) you only need to shell out approx. $180 to Amazon.com, Costco, Sams Club, or possibly Wal-Mart. For a 1080i version, the HD-A3, it will be around $140. Paramount has yet to decide whether or not to switch and Microsoft is backing up its support by doing the same for customers who purchase a HD DVD add-on for their XBOX 360 if they've done so from last month to the end of this month. They have also promised to build-in an HD DVD drive into the new XBOX 360. HD DVD hasn't had its last breath yet, so look for more movies to be out on HD DVD soon.
In a surprise move made by Time Warner Bros today, Friday January 4, 2008, they announced 
Toshiba has gone out and found other partners to help fuel the growth of its brand by agreeing to terms with Dreamworks and Paramount Pictures to exclusively sell their format. Those are huge allies in the fight against the powerhouse Sony. What this could remind you is the Big Three and the Asian companies. The same thing could happen here and Sony could loose major ground in the coming years. Sony though is rightfully the powerhouse as they are outselling HD DVDs 2:1 in the US. Look at other stats and you'll see HD DVD systems in Canada are outselling Blu-Ray systems (standalone) by around 500 000:340 000. Take into account the 3.4million PS3's and the 320 000 HD DVD add-on to the XBOX 360 and it looks even. Keep in mind that barely anybody know is buying the PS3 for the Blu-Ray player. I on the other hand have.
If you read my last article, you would have seen I know own a Toshiba HD DVD system, a PS3, and a 50inch, 1080p Panasonic Plasma HDTV. My dad did a whole lot of research when purchasing our new entertainment complex, about 3 months of sitting on the computer and going to electronic retailers. He probably made data sheets, graphs, to-do lists, and what-not. In the end, he found the PS3 was one of the better Blu-Ray players and surprised our family with it. I watched the included disc, Spiderman-3 on Blu-Ray and then I watched The Bourne Idendity on HD DVD. Evidently, Spiderman-3 was suberb on action but was lacking on still scenes. My 23-year old brother who does know his stuff, concurred with me. The Bourne Idendity was great on action and still. I never noticed anything bad about it. That begs the question, why would Sony include a bad disc or a bad movie and if not a bad movie, why is Blu-Ray the fan favourite? My only answer is the name.
"Ironically, Sony was also the backer of the Betamax format. In a repeat of history, Sony is pushing Blu-ray, a technically superior medium, but is seeming to repeat some of its mistakes with Betamax."
Warner will continue to release HD DVD movies until May. Warner Bros. believes further confusion with the consumer will destroy the industry. I was loving Warner Bros. today until I found out this and now I will only buy HD DVD and support all of Toshiba's allies. Warners announcement will only fuel the war that was started long ago and further confuse the consumer.
My conclusion though for all you readers is, buy a player from both sides, rent a HD DVD and Blu-Ray movie of your choice and see which is the best for you.
This Christmas was a wild one for our family. We purchased a 50-inch Plasma HDTV from Panasonic, upgraded our home theatre system to 1000-watt Pioneer speakers, got a new TV stand, purchased a Toshiba HD DVD, bought a Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and finally a Harmony 880 Remote. We had so many new electronic devices it would be so overwhelming to control them all with 7 or 8 remotes so we picked up an all-in-one for half the original price on Boxing Day. At Costco though, you can buy it for $170 CDN, regular price.
Utility
The look and feel of the remote is great, but the button placement could use some work. For 
example, the Play button is not in between the fast forward and rewind, rather, it's one up and to the right of the fast forward button. My misfortunes usually happen when I'm rewinding and then I choose to play without looking down and hit the fast forward button accidently. The volume and channel buttons are placed perfectly and make for easy channel surfing and quick boost to the volume. At first, when I saw the number placement for entering channel numbers, I thought it would be a pain in the neck to move my hand all the way down there and I would loose the grip on the remote. Gladly that's not the case, and entering numbers was a breeze because of the curve at the bottom making the length seem dwarf. Lastly, the LCD screen is amazing and makes changing media a walk in the park.
Ease of Use
At the very top of the remote you have the Power button (which gets used seldomly), and the Activities and Help button. The 
Once you've got everything ready to go, click the Activity you'd wish to start and it'll be up and running within 5 seconds. Then it will go to that Activity menu and it will replace the specific remotes associated with that activity. For example, with an Xbox 360, you get their remote in that one, with all the options displayed on the LCD screen. When watching TV, the remote will control the volume, switching channels, and if you are a Rogers subscriber, you'll have the "A" "B" "C" buttons on it, as well as many others. One problem I found with the remote and which made it harder to use is this. Say the remote does not start the Activity properly, like not switching on a device; you can press Devices, and switch it on manually, but then you don't have access to all those buttons that you normally do with the Activity. You can keep on switching back and forth from devices but that is quite annoying. Luckily, the remote doesn't do it often and won't do it all if you do one thing. Point the remote dead on towards the devices throughout the time the remote starts the Activity.
Look and Feel
The remote comes with a charger, thus making it rechargeable and a fast one at that. It takes approximately 3 hours to fully charge the remote from dead. The remote feels good in the hands with curves at the right places. The aesthetics of it are perfect except the LCD screen could use some work as it isn't clear.
Conclusion
Would I recommend it to someone? Yes I would. If you have more than 4 remotes then it would be a great time saver and leaves more stress behind. Setting it up is a breeze if you have a general understanding, and using it is just as easy. If you do need help though, there is a guided step by step, interactive help button located at the top of the remote. For $170CDN, I'd pick one up now before it's too late. Note to PS3 users, the Harmony 880 remote is not compatible with it due to bluetooth issues.
Three other airlines including Alaska Airlines are
American Airlines passengers will have nationwide internent access using devices that support 802.11a/b/g. Their goal is to to offer internet access at the start of 2008 but there is no mention how many airplanes will be equipped. They have already begun testing on its fleet of Boeing 727-200 aircraft in August. AirCell is building their network as well as Virgins. They own 3MHz of the 800MHz spectrum and they've already demonstrated in-flight WLAN capabilities which took place in 2005. Virgin America first announced its in-flight broadband service plan in
September, and the company hopes to have its all of its planes
connected "sometime in 2008."
By the end of 2008, Internet access will be close to a standard on commercial airlines except for the low-cost airlines like JetsGo and Air Transat. The next airline to move onto the scene should be Air Canada and possibly WestJet. Definitely, this has revolutionized the airline industry and should provide a boost to the sagging industry.
Silverthorne is Intel's first crack at making a brand new processor aimed at ultramobile PCs except for those small cell phones like the iPhone. Intel is not only working on this processor, but an update to it's upcoming Penryn family using a 45nm notebook processor, plus Montevina, a sub-notebook processor with 40% smaller components. Intel will make its integrated Wi-Fi/WiMax chip set available as an option with Montevina-based notebooks. As always, Intel is looking to shake up the industry and as usual, it will go off with a bang.
Around June 2008, Intel will release a new platform, Menlow, that will use Silverthorne and another chip set, Poulsbo. Using their new technology of a 45nm chip, which is being drooled at by other chip makers such as ATI/AMD, they will hopefully drill a new market wide open between the cell phone and notebook industries.
Currently there are more than 15 designs in Intel's arsenal with 2 in production by Christmas and 4 by the second half of 2008. The image above is the HTC Shift which will use Intel's Ultra Mobile PC chip (UMP) also in development and should be released later next year.
On Tuesday November 27, 2007, Google announced a new initiative to produce renewable energy at low costs to the consumer, but more importantly, cheaper than coal. Officially known as RE
Eliminating coal, is another step to be taken in reducing green house gases, with coal supplying more than 40% of the worlds electricity, Google is taking a huge step forward. Mentioned in their Press Release many times is "Cheaper than Coal" and that is huge, because no government will change their power structure unless it is cheaper and more reliable. China and India might be the first countries to switch.
My brother is a good friend of mine and so he tells me about all the purchases he plans out like his high performance computer, video games and now a superb GPS. The Magellen Maestro 4050 is an amazing device, and if you're in the market for one, you shouldn't at all be surprised about what I'm going to tell you. I'm going to go from obvious to cool features on this GPS.
First off there are pre-loaded US, Canada, and Puerto Rico maps all displayed on a 4.3 inch screen. It is 5. 0 (l) x 3.75 (w) x 0.88 (h) and contained in a high quality plastic case. It can run 2 hours with continuous use but isn't important because mostly you'll have it plugged into your car at all times.
My brother just bought a BMW 328xi with a load of feature including Bluetooth and an integrated feature called BMW assist. BMW Assist system offers safety, security and convenience services at the touch of a button. Using advanced technology, BMW Assist connects you with a trained response specialist, much like OnStar, to help you with almost everything, from an emergency situation to directions and traffic information. How does this relate to the Magellan Maestro 4050? If you didn't pay for some of the luxuries you can add to a car, then this GPS will provide at least some of those for a fraction of the cost. Bluetooth, hands-free calling, and Built-in AAA Travel Information, this will rival an integrated navigation system.
I haven't even got to the best part yet. Next is the included services offered by Magellan. TrafficKit can be added onto the GPS with applicable subsciption fees. Basically, TrafficKit will tell you traffic updates faster than your local radio. Finally, there is voice recognition software. There are two YouTube videos that I found to be quite good. One shows a close-up of the GPS being used with not the best function(click here) and then the other one is more of a review of the voice recognition with a demo(click here).
Compared to TomTom there are some advantages and disadvanges. For one, TomTom has mapshare which is really helpful when you find an error, you can help correct it, and therefore in turn, you'll have a more reliable map. Magellan though has the amazing Voice Command and wins my heart.
I looked at the big three in the industry, Magellan, TomTom, and Garmin and took into account their routing engine and map accuracy. There are two different mapping data providors for these 2 companies, NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas. NAVTEQ is better for North America and comes standard on Magellan units and Garmin (Garmins is several years old but soon to be updated) while TomTom uses Tele Atlas.
I'm not done yet. Here are some pros and cons about the Magellan Maestro 4050.
Pros
- Great, easy to use interface
- notifies you well in advance of turns
- 4.5million P.O.I.S that is better than larger databases on other GPS systems
- Multi-destination routing with route optimization
- QuickSpell, to speed up entering text (no real need to use it with voice commad)
- Loud speaker
- Allows you to see your current location w/ time, speed, direction, & allows you to save your current location
- Four routing methods to choose from
- Only GPS on the market that includes AAA's TourBook information
Cons
- GPS voice is hard to understand and is the worst text-to-speech of Magellan, TomTom, and Garmin
- Cannot enter a street address using the voice command
- Hard to use voice commands while driving
- Docking system is hard to use
- Map colour scheme makes it hard to read
- Sometimes wakes up without you saying "Magellan"
- Icons are transparent, making them hard to see
- Traffic Reciever is big
- P.O.I lookups don't use QuickSpell
- Bluetooth is difficult to hook up with your device
- Map Screen only uses night mode, all other screens stick to day
Retailling at $499, I think I'd pick one up for Christmas.
Pandora's Box was always a secret and when it was finally released and let out into the world, everybody except the US got to look into it. For some time though, Pandora was seen by peering Canadian eyes but last May it was shut down to Canadians. Now there is a website entitled Last.Fm and is open to Canadian residents and the rest of the world. This is a huge relief because I dearly missed Pandora and it's beautiful choices of music. There restrictions to it originally which included prohibiting you to scroll more than 5 times for a set amount of time. Last.Fm does not have many restrictions but they do get a little annoying on their website. For one, you can search up a song/artist on their website, but you can only it for 30 seconds and it doesn't allow you to play the full version on your downloaded software even though it says you can. The stations though play some unique songs like the Rolling Stones version of Into You-Fabolous.
My pet peeve of this software is you can only search for Artists and Tags where you are almost dispersuaded from searching for albums and titles. I suggest you experience becuase right now you don't have an alternative if you're a Canadian resident living in Canada. Let me know what you guys think about the alternative and comment away.
Earlier I did a review on some new websites and I told you I would do a larger review on this website, Zoho: DB & Reports. We'll my dad, who spends hours on the computer making charts, graphs, and spreadsheets, looked at the site and gave it his once over. This is what he thought of it.
Easy to learn if you've used spreadsheets/databases before
Easy import from Excel to Zoho, and it gives you some choices
Easy creation of new database from scratch
Free
Cons :
Not very sophisticated. Excel and Access have way more functionality
Imported data was done with bogus warnings, and totals dropped
Looks untidy eg. dollars show on the left rather than right
You have to enter a character every cell before getting the drop down options
No auto complete
Your data could perhaps be hacked more easily than Excel
Apart from that I came up with a couple of stuff too. It has a nice looking interface that isn't too wild but not too simple making it more pleasing on your eyes and letting you get work done more. A neat option is you can make databases public for other people to see. Also, all the information is neatly organized with Recent Items on a sidebar to the left and a list of your databases right below your options. Overall, it won't replace your Excel software but if you're working on a foreign computer or you need to transfer over databases without the need of a USB, then this is the perfect site.