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Sony brags about PS3 beating the 360 in Jan... but misses a number
2008-02-16 03:57:00
It seems Sony likes playing number games but then leaves out some of the biggest most important numbers just because it doesn't fit with their headlines and you know Sony they just want their fanboys to get out their bic pens and start righting on every paper and board about how awesome their products are and how their going to win the war because of this one month. Sony claimed victory when they beat out Microsoft this month in US hardware sales, a whopping 269,000 to 230,000 units. But here's where the issues start, you see with the announcement of HDDVD's failure and the PS3 being a solid Bluray player, that boosted sales. Add to that for the last 3 weeks it's been nearly impossible to find the Xbox360 in many US locations due to a known shortage from the Microsoft supply channels that has choked off sales. While all of this explains the reason Microsoft slipped to third in hardware sales, theirs something even worse for Sony's headlines. The fact that Microsoft took in...
More About: Beating , Number

Articles and SEO and a my new best friend :)
2008-02-02 04:31:00
As you might recall I'm busy working on expanding the NexTechNews horizons via some SEO development. One of the ways I've decided to do this is by submitting custom articles that I've been working on different sites and directories that both publish my work as well as provide solid back links for NTN. The hunt is currently on for sites that can show me how to best make use of article sites though, I've seen a lot of different ground that somehow manage to roll out custom work to 10-100 sites within minutes, yet it takes me hours to get it uploaded to a few sites. The latest site I've started using that's probably the quickest and has a nice high rating and design is howto.fm ... it's quite the little site for NTN because it's all about how to articles. So any article submission I submit can be about topics that I like considering I'm a big time DIY supporter. If any of my visitors has an idea for some content I can write up I'd definitly appreciate suggestions I'm p...
More About: Articles , Friend

Wii get's another peripheral... well sort of
2008-02-01 04:50:00
The Wii does get some interesting addon peripherals like the WiiFit, but I've noticed a trend of addon's coming out that are about as useful as a colon cleanse for a teenager. I mean with wireless Nunchuks and third party controllers for the Wii already out, do we really need to have Nyko's new addon for the existing wired controllers to make the existing controllers wireless from each other. But that begs the question do we really need the controllers to be wireless in the first place and burn through batteries even faster? Beyond the fact that the new Nyko Wireless Nunchuk adapter basically takes the concept of a sexier third party wireless Nunchuk such as Nyko's own replacement adapter that's quite sexy looking, and instead adds a bunch of crap onto the existing remotes. While at the same time charging you a full 20$ for the privilege of not having the remote tied together, and considering how long the Nunchuk cable is I still don't see the reason for such a move. W...
More About: Sort , Peripheral

Apple TV take 2 delayed officially
2008-02-01 04:43:00
Well boys and girls it seems apple only managed to meet their deadline for 1 of the 2 big announcements from MacWorld, even though this years MacWorld was a bit of a let down, it kind of makes you wonder if next year will be worth the effort of looking for hotels Las Vegas, or California or wherever next years is taking place. I mean the Macbook Air shipped yesterday but the Apple TV take 2 has been delayed for "a few weeks" it's actually a little concerning that they didn't set a new release date specifically. Of course its not a deal killer since its a free upgrade to current Apple TV owners but the fact remains perhaps Apple shouldn't have been so quick to set release dates if they can't make them. Especially if their going to bash microsoft for similar issues, I mean after many reviews saying Leopard was rushed and now the Apple TV falling under delays for a ... well... a pretty minor product in apples overall lineup. For the most part the delay will impact those people...

DVI on the way out, HDMI the new king of media
2008-02-01 04:29:00
While it might have gotten overlooked a bit due to the battling between Bluray and HDDVD pull out all the stops bashing back and forth so publicly. But their was another war going on for your media centers, the battle between digital outputs, namely HDMI and DVI and things in this war are starting to wind down even with a winner in the midst. It looks like the much smaller sexier audio carrying fighter is easily going to start walking over DVI in leaps and bounds. The single corded solution appears to have won the battle with the analyst firm In-Stat stating that DVI shipments will drop from 112 million products shipping throughout the entire 2007 year to just 3 million by the time 2011 comes around. Now while that drop is drastic the real deciding factor is that HDMI has already shipped 143 million products since start of 2008 (yes you read that right in this first month they've sold 31 million more than the entire DVI 2007 year). On top of that number it also stands the fac...
More About: Media , King , Hdmi

Domino's gets Online Pizza Tracking!?
2008-01-31 04:28:00
Ok this is a funny announcement, apparently Domino's Pizza feels they need to add a bit of technology for their customers to play with, I suppose that comes after the fact that their pizza is probably ranked amongst the lowest quality out their. I mean to get a decent pizza, we've actually resorted to ordering extra sauce and extra cheese every time on our deep dish to get a proper nice and saucy pizza. Anyway the new Pizza Tracking system is going live today in 3,400 Dominos outlets and will be going live in the rest of the shops by June 30th ... I wonder if this is US only or if my Caribbean dominos will get it as well... I mean it is a franchise isn't it? The system is kind of cool actually, after placing your order and promising the Pizza Tracking system you will only use the system with good intentions and only to track your own pizza the system tells you every step of the way your pizza progresses from the moment they hang up with your call, to the moment it leaves t...
More About: Online

Dozens of Tesla Roadsters Destroyed!!!!
2008-01-28 03:28:00
  Ok yes, while they were destroyed and in spectacular ways, the fact of the matter is they were done in a controlled setting by the US government to make sure they are road legal :) But the title sure is catchy eh? HEHE In a bid to move the bad A$$ electric sports car to the US Tesla Motors is putting it's cars through the ringer known as the FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards) testing cycle. As of this week the Tesla Roadster is officially legal to be driven in all 50 states and has passed every FMVSS test that was thrown at it. From all types of crazy impact tests like the one you see above, to simpler ones like checking if the windshield could defrost fast enough. They even test for more boring things like to make sure the instrument panel's icons are all the US standards based things for emergency brake, gas etc. While it passed every test including the important ones like insuring that during an accident the giant battery bank's emergency cutoff syst...

Finding the cash when I need it.
2008-01-28 03:04:00
You know it's happened once again, I'm on the hunt for a decent place to get a cash advance loan and I still can't find many reputable places. Theirs quite a large number of different cash advance loans available both online and in different countries around the world. What's sad is considering I'm a US Citizen you'd think I would have a bit of an easier time finding a place that would be willing to do short term loans. But no of course not considering I've been overseas for a few years, 8 years actually, I have no mentionable credit to speak of. Their are a few good sites I've come across that really don't care who you are or what your doing that will loan you money but very few of them have respectable rates. I mean it's great to get a few hundred early in the month to pay for my car insurance when it's due, but if the company is going to end up turning it over and trying to charge me upward of 40-50% interest for a few weeks of a loan what's the point? I'll end up...
More About: Cash

Sex Appeal: Gizmodo's January girl
2008-01-28 02:53:00
After doing a bit of trickery on their visitors that had a few of their commenter's quite depressed and sickened. Well now we've got Gizmodo showing off some January Mac girl of the month, this month it's Elise Frappier stripped half naked and posing with a sexy little Macbook in the usual apple softcore sexiness. So in a bid to prove that a hot girl could sell anything from high priced exterior lighting to the latest in Macbook hardware. I suppose the real question you have to ask yourself is when you look at an image like this whether it be a marketing campaign or just showing off a product for the sake of showing it off do your eyes really ever track to the product? I mean if you sit here and just stare at this post for a few minutes, what exactly is the focus? To me I don't think I looked at the Macbook for more than a few moments... Also theirs a different question I have, why aren't they  sporting the latest in Macbook Air Sexiness, Then we'd have 2 sexy models t...
More About: Girl , Sex Appeal , Appeal

Via's upcoming Isaiah's pack the power for Crysis even!
2008-01-28 02:38:00
For the majority of tech people out their Via normally stands for low power which is great but it also stands for low performance as well. That seems to be about to change in the upcoming move to their new little sexy gold anklet of a CPU dubbed the Isaiah. Somewhat of a diamond pendant in terms of via CPU's if you ask me, so powerful in fact that the latest technology news says that the 1.8ghz Isaiah will be able to run Crysis . The boys at Via are looking to best the upcoming ultra-low powered, UMPC-friendly Silverthorne chips on the way from Intel. The fact that it can play Crysis alone is a huge step in the right direction considering the performance from both CPU and GPU's that Crysis requires even for a minimum to operate. Now while they haven't released the actual FPS and performance figures for the game the fact that they even submitted the fact that the game is playable on the new Via 1.8GHz is a massive step in the right direction. Is this generation of new chips p...
More About: Power , Pack , Upcoming

LED's to replace Christmas lights next year?
2008-01-20 16:44:00
With the move worldwide to be more energy conscious, and the fact that everyone knows Christmas is when our power bills tend to take a turn to the worse. It's surprising the move away from power hungry decorations to more long lasting more power conservative alternatives hasn't taken off sooner. I suppose the reason in the past was that the price of Christmas lights in the standard variety tend to be dirt cheap, in my local stores they sold for 5-10$ for 25ft rope. What I've discovered though is that while it might be a cheap thing to grab at the store they definitly take their tole on your electricity bill while their connected, not to mention the fact that I don't think theirs 1 year that 1/2 a strand doesn't have a dozen broken bulbs that no one actually sits and tries to fix, no instead we all go out and by another box because their "only 10$" yet, we fail to notice that over the last 3 years that will probably make that 1 strand a 40$ cost... With the move LED has m...
More About: Lights , Year , Christmas Lights

Plasma Powered, Cigarette shaped UAV's to hit the sky?!
2008-01-20 16:25:00
Well it seems the boys at DARPA are releasing information on unbelievable projects on an almost weekly basis lately. From invisibility cloaks and self healing soldiers to other breakthroughs in areas like drug treatment, and now things are getting even more wild with UAV's that are the size and shape of a cigarette. DARPA and the Oklahoma State University are working to make the vision of swarms of tiny vehicles flying into hostile areas a possibility. The technology rely's on some cutting edge research into propulsion technology that will power the little devices without any moving parts by utilizing a plasma thruster. The diagram is located below as well as what the devices engine looks like. The basic's of the design will remain the same amongst the different sized micro-scaled aircraft that are planned in the future. The energy created by the new Plasma Micro Thruster is enough to thrust a micro and nano unmanned UAV of the 6 to 12 inch length style. What's being lo...
More About: Cigarette

Woot! A small site that put Expedia/Orbitz to Web2.0 shame!
2008-01-15 04:35:00
Guys I was recommended to check out a new site that goes by the name cFares, and this comes at a GREAT time considering my girlfriend needs a flight to Venezuela this month for some passport stuff she needs to take care of and also we're looking in the long term for cheap tickets solution for our honeymoon since we don't want to spend too much money. But here's the funny thing, almost immediately when comparing cFares to the alternative cheap rate sites it beat out 1 in the first 30 seconds. The one it beat out was Expedia , as for some idiotic reason they don't offer flights from where I live AT ALL! I mean American Airlines and Delta both fly here, and cFares and Orbitz both can find flights for me. And it's not a bug in Expedia because they do convert my local airport code into the proper name but they refuse to service me. So cFares automatically gets bonus points and knocks Expedia out of the running in my little competition to find a good deal. Orbitz was wooped in a ...
More About: Site , Small , Woot

Home thermostats that help reduce blackouts to the powergrid
2008-01-13 22:04:00
It would appear that the next gadget to go uber high-tech is the thermostat, with all the global warming issues and power shortages across the country and for that matter the world it was only a matter of time until the government stepped up and put a way to curb needless wasted electricity when its required. This new proposal in California would mandate that residents install a remotely monitored temperature controls in their home next year. What it breaks down to is the Programmable Communication Thermostat would feature a non-removable Fm receiver which could be controlled in times of emergency when it might be needed to reduce load on the utility companies supply. While some whistleblowers are claiming it's big brother trying to control our world, the fact is the device would only move the temperature + or - 4 degrees which could possibly save millions of dollars and take load off the grid when their are problems. I mean at the same time we'd end up paying less on my elec...
More About: Home , Reduce

Uh oh, CES and Macworld to overlap in 2009 again!
2008-01-13 21:56:00
While this year saw CES as the show to be at, and many aren't exactly expecting Macworld to change that. In past years when Macworld and CES have overlapped people have had the bad situation of having to decide if they want to go to CES and see hundreds of new gadgets from dozens to hundreds of manufacturers, or go to Macworld and hope that Apple is preparing a massive announcement like the iPhone was. Luckily in 2008 Macworld and CES didn't overlap and with the week of space in between the 200,000+ tech trade show visitors were put at ease. but as you can see to the right things aren't looking very peachy for 2009. Once again it appears that CES 2009 and Macworld 2009 will indeed overlap. Unlike the previous overlap however it's a bit flip flopped for 2009, with Steve at Apple firing the first shot of news on Tuesday January 6th with Macworld running through friday the 9th, while CES opens up on Thursday the 8th and wraps up on the 11th. The upsetting part is that Apple's...

A new NTN affiliate network, suggestions?
2008-01-13 21:45:00
I've been looking for a better higher paying way to monetize web traffic to my sites without being obtrusive to my visitors. While adsense remains the best way the problem is that with adsense you earn on a per-click basis, what I want is a way to Earn from every visitor that comes to the sites. I was originally planning to roll out some CPM based banners but the problem with those was that they pay crap, I mean literally under 10 cents in some cases based on the location of the visitors. Audio-Ads seems to be the next big thing but they aren't starting to run until February, but they promise to allow webmasters to Earn from every visitor that hits their site. But it still remains to be seen if they will have a competitive worldwide CPM rate. I mean yes, getting 2$ CPM for US traffic is great but if the rest of the world is $0.10 then it kind of defeats the purpose. If anyone has other sites that allow you to monetize all the traffic to a site, that pays well world wide, the...
More About: Affiliate , Network

iRiver takes the digital notebook to the next level!
2008-01-13 21:14:00
Like another company that likes naming their products with i's, iRiver has come up with some amazingly good looking product designs and to close off CES some pictures and Korean text has come out of iRiver of what may be the best notebook EVER. Now considering it's electronic I don't think we'll be sitting in our hot tubs reviewing our notes, but then again who knows maybe the electronics will be fully waterproofed. This unannounced prototype from the minds at iRiver that takes the name eBook to a whole new level.  The system combines handwriting recognition as well as a color display. The sad part is that this is about as much as we know of the design. But if it was me at iRiver designing the system I would build in multi-touch so it would be a sort of a surface computing showcase on top of the digital notebook design. But as we said it's only a prototype and this wouldn't be the first prototype from iRiver to not make it out of the concept stage. But from the look ...
More About: Notebook , Digital , Iriver

Money when I need it why's PayPal so difficult
2008-01-13 20:56:00
I've been working on getting my US PayPal account upgraded, first I tried getting my address confirmed and then I needed some extra money and tried to get the buyer credit but they seem to have their own issues. So off I went trying to find somewhere for a short term cash advance to get some money until I get my paycheck. Every few months I run into this problem something comes up during the month and I end up needing a few bucks to last me until the end of the month. The problem is finding a place that does payday loans can be ridiculous especially down here in the Caribbean and from the rates I've seen they almost make me want to stay for a good week or 2 until my paycheck. I mean yes I could go to the bank and get a loan and put it in the bank to use when I need it as my own little emergency fund and just pay it back over time but the fact is that's a hanging thing over my head with a payday loan at least it's something that's here for a bit and then its gone not lingering.
More About: Money , Paypal

8" Asus EeePC makes me want one!
2008-01-11 04:55:00
Ok the fact that the EeePC can run windows, and the fact that it packs wicked things like SSD and wireless make it sooooooo a hot thing this year. But my issue with the original was that the small 7" screen left so much black around the screen border that it made the entire thing look extremely cheap. But then again this kind of was expected considering the target market and price point that they have been shipping the devices at. But that seems to be on the way to changing, and for the better with the images released of the upcoming 8-inch Eee PC that will be available in multiple colors in Q2 of this year. Now I'm definitely excited and while the 800x480 resolution is pretty decent for the small screen, I really hope that they eventually bump it up to 1280x because then you've got an ultra-small, ultra-light wicked machine. The old 7" and new 8" models are identical beyond the bezel's and some light plastic cosmetic changes. Now you would think that would be enough t...
More About: Asus

The online casino as I see it
2008-01-11 04:47:00
Yes I do play games beyond just the average blackjack and backgammon beyond what you may believe from my history of posting in concern to my online games. I find quite a bit of the older style vegas casino games fun. The odd thing is being a programmer I think I'm more cautious of where I play because i realize easy it would be for an online casino programmer to tilt the favor of games like the slot machines in his favor. I mean yes the good casinos have accreditations that they don't do naughty things but then again as I said being a programmer I know how easy it is to make a change while no ones looking. But for the most part it seems that the online sites seem to play pretty fair I've had my share of good wins as well as losses, as with real world casinos some sites just like some real casinos tend to give me a bit of good luck while others really hate me.
More About: Casino , Online , Online casino

Nanotube-infused synthetic skin, it's like the time Data from star trek cou
2008-01-11 04:25:00
It seems theirs nothing in science fiction that doesn't eventually come to life. Sometimes the order of the events aren't the same but the fact is they eventually will all happen. We don't have our shields or warp drive yet, or even  decent android. But it seems that the skin that data once got grafted onto his arm and let him feel the crazy Borg chicks breath on the hairs may actual become a reality in the coming years for those with prosthetic limbs. The pentagon has been backing researchers that are in the process of "creating patches of synthetic skin that will eventually provide direct feedback to the brain". The skin itself is made of a rubbery polymer called polyimide and is then infused with carbon nanotubes (is their anything nanotubes can't do? First enabling Spiderman like climbing suits now this). The researchers have stated that the skin should be ready for artificial limbs as early as 2010, which I might remind you guys is only 2 years away! At the rate of...
More About: Skin , Star Trek , Time , Data , Star

Dell's 30" LCD that puts all others to shame.
2008-01-11 04:12:00
Dell has made wicked monitors since day 1 when they started releasing big time monitors everyone has been excited whenever dell releases new editions of their monitors. Well their 30" monitors has been reincarnated at CES this year into the Dell 3008WFP. The 3008WFP is the same massive 30" beauty it always has been but things have just gotten even more beautiful. Beyond being huge, it's also much more bright than the previous version. But from in person reviews the biggest change is the color, in fact Gizmodo says that if you put the new Dell 3008WFP next to a standard monitor even a high end monitor the 3008WFP makes the older monitor look like it's in black and white. The color gamut that is covered by the new dell's is astounding from every review that I've read in the past 2 days. Source and More Images: Engadget
More About: Shame

Even bluray fans want these HDDVD players
2008-01-11 04:00:00
To the left you see what Toshiba has planned for the area of HDDVD in the future. And from the thin design and slightly offset widescreen LCD of the closer model, I'M EXCITED! While Warner may have left, apparently paramount isn't leaving yet, and I think even bluray fans out their will get a bit excited in their manbits as they check out the definitely sexy design. If the final release is that thin and as light as it looks, then I can promise it will be a hot seller, hell that size looks like it might fit in my binder :) Would be wicked to have for my trips to the office, or those long days at work. I suppose if I did get it I would end up having to go out to the furniture stores and buy a new desk for my office because that would make my entire office look like it wasn't worthy. :) I just hope when they do release it (god please let HDDVD turn thing around, stupid a$$ warner) that the screen is 1080p :) At that small size it would be so crisp and sharp it might cut our eyes ...
More About: Players , Fans , Bluray

Another angel for donations
2008-01-10 03:38:00
You might recall a few months ago I reviewed a site that takes donations of old boats, well it seems that the concept of one donation that turns into free videos for kids around the world. They even upload the videos they have created using the funds to youtube which you can see by searching boatangel on youtube. With CarAngel much like boat angel it's the same concept but this time it's for those people out their that want to donate cars. Allowing for an old car to go to good use and help kids and teens with the more difficult and needed problems they see on a daily basis through the free videos and DVD's.
More About: Donations

1.5" thin displays from Hitachi announced.
2008-01-08 04:28:00
Well in a slew of announcements on unbelievably thin TV's at CES today, one of the big announcements and displays was Hitachi 's new 1.5" thin display technology that they are planning to have deployed early this year. The fact of the matter is that Hitachi's 1.5" thin displays might not beat out the other's at the show in sheer thinness, such as those coming in at 1" and under 1" thin, the fact is that since Hitachi's actually going to be shipping their 32", 37" and 42" LCD displays early this year, they win in the category of Televisions if you ask me. If they can keep the pricing down on the displays, at least in the neighborhood of their thicker cousins, then perhaps these will end up being the next big thing. I mean I know I want one, but then again I think I'm a bit more excited about the simple fact that new generations of TV's mean that the old generation that were still darn good will start dropping in price. The way I see it, by the time I can afford the new <...
More About: Displays

SEO and my site do I really have to go further?
2008-01-08 03:59:00
I've been busy trying to improve the way NexTechNews is expanding, one of which is via the new DiggThis I'm putting on the new posts to try to help eventually spread the word about the site and our article as we try to at least occasionally grow larger. Our traffic has been stable but hasn't really grown in the last 6 months or so. So now it has come to my question of whether I should hire an seo specialist to help me in better structuring the site and expanding on the way I write articles. The issue I have with this is I'm not exactly a big time seo expert but what I am is a pretty solid webmaster, I know what I'm writing and I know how to write keyword rich documents. But when it comes to taking a site from niche site, to major site especially in such a competitive industry as technology and gadgets it's quite difficult. An seo company might be able to help me but in my view I only think I myself can really push it to where I want it to eventually be.  I mean I'm pon...
More About: Site

NVidia SLI goes green at CES2008
2008-01-08 03:45:00
Today NVIDIA officially took the wraps off of their Hybrid SLI Technology, now before you start thinking they mean hybrid as in different GPU's in SLI, what they indeed mean is in the energy saving version of their SLI technology, in an effort to save the planet... get it green :) The new system was announced almost a half year ago so the fact that it took them until now to roll out the new system is nothing more than a "better now than never" ordeal. The system is about as sexy to a techie geek as sheepskin boots are to a cowboy. The technology is designed to reduce power consumption while at the same time allowing for improved graphical performance. According to the representatives at NVidia they said that they plan to soon have the technology integrated into a "wide variety of graphics and motherboard desktop and notebook products". Now to run down things, the Hybrid SLI unlike it's automobile counterpart doesn't swap off electricity for hydrogen or batteries. What it doe...
More About: Green

This Digg added to NTN
2008-01-06 16:41:00
As a move to improve the adoption of NexTechNews to the technology blog world we have started adding the digg this script to the posts from now on. Unfortunately I haven't figured out the right way to add it to my script directly for all posts so I have to add it manually. So from now on I will be adding the Digg This icon to all future posts so if your a frequent or a new visitor feel free to use it to digg the articles you like, remember it helps you spread NTN to other viewers that may not have ever visited us before.

A $150 High Def camcorder? WOW
2008-01-05 04:33:00
You know I've wanted a high definition camcorder for well... forever. The fact is I tend to watch videos on my computer most of the time. I mean I want to get a plasma and I've got a 22" LCD so lets just say I rarely look at stuff in standard definition. The issue has always been that they're major dollars. Even the cheapest were upward of 500-600$ you know only the kind that say real estate agents and other high powered big dollar business people could actually afford. Introducing the DXG-566V... Camcorder Features: Records full-motion video in high-definition D1 Resolution: 720 x 480, at 30fps HD Resolution: 1280 x 720, at 30fps Records video in H.264, MOV file format 2X Digital Zoom 3.0" TFT Screen Digital Camera Features: 5 Megapixel CMOS sensor Captures still images in JPEG format Up to 8 Megapixel image resolution Mass Storage Features: 32MB onboard memory SD Card slot to accept high-capacity or standard SD cards Connect to your PC to store and transfer data file...
More About: High , Cord , High def

My continuing obsession with backgammon MUHHAHA
2008-01-03 04:46:00
LOL considering this is my what 5th post concerning online backgammon you can probably guess the fact that out of the online games I play it's my favorite by now. I found a new site by the name of Gammon-Fortune for those of you that play backgammon it's about as solid as the other sites I reviewed previously for playing backgammon online. They all seem to follow the same principals but their scripts and presentation have differed quite a bit from one to the other as I've been looking around at the different offerings. Gammon-Fortune has a bit of a ... well... they try to make you feel like your going to get rich, even though it's highly doubtful you ever would, but then again isn't that the point of all casino games :)
More About: Obsession , Backgammon