Work Hard, Play Hard Like a Guru

Old-School Mash-Up: SNES Vs. Sega Genesis

2012-01-09T06:49:00.000-08:00

If you are having trouble seeing the full-sized image, first click the image, then right click it and select "view image" and you can expand it from there...Cheers!

Guru Blogger

GTA V Sneak Peek and MW3 is Almost Here!

2011-11-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

That was Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V. Better graphics, deeper storylines, and the same kill 'em all and let God sort them out attitude make this game a worthy new entry in the popular series.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is almost here! Have you pre-ordered your copy yet? Has anybody seen my razor?

Hacking the Attack on PSN

2011-05-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

Since April 20th, the Playstation Network has been down. A cyber attack compromised the security of the entire network, exposing user data and credit card information. The attack was extensive and how far it reaches is still unknown. Sony released this official statement on the Playstation website:

"An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. In order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward, we turned off PlayStation Network & Qriocity services on the evening of Wednesday, April 20th. Providing quality entertainment services to our customers and partners is our utmost priority. We are doing all we can to resolve this situation quickly, and we once again thank you for your patience. We will continue to update you promptly as we have additional information to share."

Since Sony began to assess the situation and begin to rebuild the Network and its security, another attack occured, releasing more sensitive information. The team at Playstation is no doubt working hard to fix this situation, but many users are frustrated with the Network being down this long and asking how a massive security breach like this can happen in the first place? It is now May 10th and Sony has issued another statement saying that they "can’t give...an exact date, as it will likely be at least a few more days." Playstation is going to be giving away a free month of Sony's premium Playstation Plus service as "a 'Welcome Back' package," as well as giving users who already have subscribed to the Playstation Plus and Qriocity services an extension of the time they have paid for to make up for the outage. In the meantime, I'll be playing Nintendo 64 and my buddy's 360.

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Tablet computers Everywhere!

2011-01-11T21:22:00.000-08:00

With over 1 million Ipads in the hands of America's consumers and many other tablet computers becoming available, we have to ask ourselves, "How did we ever live without these things?" Adobe may be working with tablet makers to include technology to utilize its "Flash" and "Air" programs, in response to Apple's decision to not include support for Adobe's products in its Ipad release. HP has its Slate 500 Tablet PC on the market now as a bundle with the case, docking station, and stylus. Microsoft dropped plans for their Courier tablet...at least for now. Archos, Viewsonic, and Pandigital all have tablet computers on the market, as well as many other brands that are jumping on the "tablet bandwagon".

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Tablet computers offer the versatility of a netbook in an even more compact size. Some operate on App based systems, while other offer limited to full operating systems (Windows 7 Home Premium). Portability and getting the most out of all your electronics is all the rage right now in the tech world. The Ipad and HP Slate 500 are slightly ahead of the pack, delivering the best user experiences and most features and both complete with accessories for right around $700.

New Black Ops Fix!

2010-10-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

Black Ops fans rejoice! Your day is almost here. November 9, 2010, Treyarch's latest entry in the top-selling Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops, will hit shelves (and consoles) across the map. With this new set of missions taking place across the span of the Cold War, new gameplay modes, an in-game economy complete with Wager Matches and purchasable weapons and customizations, Black Ops is sure to please. The ultra popular multiplayer mode is back and harder to mod or cheat making gameplay more fun online. PC users will get their online connections via dedicated servers, which Treyarch says has always been their intention.

There are a few versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops being released, so just to familiarize yourself a little better, here is the run down:

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Regular Version

Call of Duty: Black Ops Hardened Edition -The Hardened Edition comes with a custom Black Ops limited edition medal, exclusive Black Ops Flightsuit Avatar (for XBOX Live or PSN), and four playable co-op maps.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Hardened Edition - XBOX 360

Call of Duty: Black Ops Hardened Edition

Call of Duty: Black Ops Prestige Edition - Comes with remote control RC-XD style video surveillance vehicle modelled after the killstreak reward in the game, as well as everything included in the Hardened Edition.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Prestige Edition

Reserve your copy today and check out all the latest Call of Duty: Black Ops news and videos here: Call of Duty: Black Ops - Treyarch Delivers Denied Ops During Cold War Era Also, stay tuned for more of The Fix!

Call of Duty: Black Ops Update

2010-05-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

Looks like we can expect to see the AK-47 make a return in Black Ops. Other weaponry we can plan on seeing: the Streyr AUG, M16, CAR15, M1911, M60, RPD, SPAS12, and a crossbow with a scope. An interesting note, if you look at this image, the soldier pictured has dual (Akimbo) pistols, as well as two rifles. Could Treyarch have some tricks up its sleeves? Maybe instead of a One Man Army style perk, players will be able to switch between two primary weapons and Akimbo secondaries. This could provide an interesting element to online gameplay.

USA Today got to preview a level set in the frigid Ural Mountains region of Russia that takes place in the year 1968. There will also be missions in Vietnam and Cuba.The storyline transpires during the Cold War and the missions are ultra-classified. If you fail, you never existed type of jobs. That's where the Black Ops comes from. If the story mode is anything like Call of Duty: World at War, also by Treyarch, it is sure to be nothing short of fantastic. We will have to see what they pull out for the online modes. Treyarch also promises more dedicated servers this time around to handle online play for PC gamers.

During ESPN's coverage of the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday, Treyarch premiered the first full-length trailer for Black Ops. In case you missed it, you can watch it here:

All brought to you by Call of Duty: Black Ops The Fix and Work Hard, Play Hard Like a Guru.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Resurgence Map Pack

2010-05-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Playstation,

Maybe it's just repressed memories from our childhood, but we are having a "resurgence" of feelings of being violated. We're pretty sure it is due to this new map pack from Activision. Another $15 map pack? To add insult to injury, Vegas odds say there will probably be 2 more maps from the original Modern Warfare...or will they just resell us some of the ones that came with MW2 again?? Playstation, you put the icing on top of the hurt-filled cake...you let Microsoft beat you to the punch again! Bill Gates just n00b tubed you from across the map and got an airstrike. Guess we'll have to wait another month after XBoxers get their hands on the new downloadable content to get robbed...thanks!

Signed,
pwn3d_0n_pS3

iPhone Espionage Pt.3

2010-05-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

Tech -When is a "leak" not a leak?

There appears to be yet another iPhone 4G prototype leak. This time, Vietnam based tech forum Taoviet got ahold of the very functional, fumbled phone. From the looks of things, this phone seems to be a more complete prototype than the one bought by Gizmodo last month.

Engadget reported that Taoviet shelled out $4000 for this new prototype, $1000 less than Gizmodo paid for the first leaked prototype. From the video, we can see that it has all the elements of the first leaked iPhone: the dual cameras and volume buttons, noise cancelling mics, and glossy exterior.

This does beg the question, is Apple just leaving these things around for us to find? Apple's security is usually airtight, but lately it has been anything but. How did both Taoviet and Gizmodo come across 2 different prototypes? Are these "leaks" really accidental or are they actually strategic advertising ploys? For now, we'll just have to be happy with the sneak peak at a cleaner prototype iPhone 4G.

wii play yoshi - snes, N64, and beyond...

2010-05-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

Gaming - Yoshi

In a special nod to a plumber's best friend, Kotaku released this bio on Mario's best friend. The loveable, green Yoshi stood by Mario through many adventures and has withstood the test of time, as he hopped from platform to platform, both literally and figuratively. On SNES, Yoshi burst into the mainstream on Super Mario World. On N64, Smash Brothers fans could even play Yoshi and brawl it out against other Nintendo characters. Check out the story here: Kotaku's Yoshi: Behind the Dinosaur

Wii Is Back In Black

2010-05-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

Tech - Nintendo To Release Black Wii Bundle

Nintendo is introducing a new black Wii system to US consumers. The sleek, new, black Wii units will feature the popular Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, and the Wii Motion Plus accessory. New Wii systems in the original white color will also come bundled with both games, Wii Motion Plus, and Wii Sports Resort and will include activites such as wakeboarding, sword fighting, and archery.

Nintendo has offered previous game systems in its more family-friendly line of consoles in multiple colors before. The Nintendo GameCube was released in Indigo, but later saw paint jobs in Jet Black, Spice (orange), and Platinum. The portable game system, the Nintendo DS has seen its share of colors as well, including the original Polar White and updates such as Jet Black and Coral Pink. This is all part of Nintendo's way of offering a more personalized gaming experience, which is also evident in the Wii system's customizable Mii avatars that players can use to compete in Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort.

The new black Wii bundles will hit store shelves on May 9th. Both the black and white system packages will still retail for $199 in the United States, but prices may vary throughout other markets.

Article By: Peter Boimare

BumpTop is bumping its free version after being scooped up by Google

2010-05-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

Tech - Google Gets BumpTop

BumpTop, a 3D desktop interface designed for Windows and Mac users, has been purchased by Google, according to the Canadian company's site. No word yet on what Google's plans are for BumpTop, but the smart money would be on Google applying this technology to the Andriod line of cellphones, which already incorporate some 3D aspects, or Google's Chrome OS. The BumpTop desktop is not designed for touch, but we're pretty sure the folks at Google can fix that. BumpTop announced that it will quit selling BumpTop Pro and close off downloads of its free version at the end of this week.

BumpTop is set up like a virtual room, with walls and a floor, allowing users to arrange files, programs, and even pictures and notes throughout the desktop. You can throw objects around or pile them up. BumpTop gives you a lot more freedom in organizing, or de-organizing, your desktop. There's a lot to have fun with there, so hurry up and run over to BumpTop's website and grab your free copy while they're still available.

Aricle by: Peter Boimare

Call of Duty: Black Ops

2010-05-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

Gaming - Call of Duty Black Ops

There is a lot of buzz on the net right now surrounding a very buzzworthy topic. The latest title in the ultra-popular Call of Duty franchise is in production right now at Treyarch, the people who brought us Call of Duty: World at War. The last Call of Duty game to hit shelves, Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2, has sold over 14 million copies to date worldwide, pulling in over $1 billion in revenue. This makes MW2 the best selling game of all time. Treyarch's new entry is titled Call of Duty: Black Ops and while there isn't much concrete info available just yet, the game teaser trailer is still enough to leave gamers everywhere talking. Check it out for yourself...

Preorder your copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops 11/09/2010.

Visit the official Call of Duty Black Ops page.
http://callofduty.com/blackops/

iPhone Espionage: Part 2

2010-04-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

Tech - What's Eating Steve Jobs?

2 weeks ago, we ran a story about how Apple's iPhone 4G prototype was left in a bar and recovered not by Apple, but by the tech blogsite Gizmodo. Police paid a visit to Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home with a search warrant, looking for the any information pertaining to the misplaced phone and seized computers, a server, and USB flash drives, among other items.There is an investigation looking into whether or not Gizmodo and Mr. Chen illegally obtained the iPhone prototype. San Mateo County Police have already contacted the person who originally found the lost phone.

While journalists, by law, are not required to reveal their sources, the $5000 price tag put on the phone made it a little less clear if any laws had been violated. With all of the press on his unreleased phone, Steve Jobs is now expected to officially show the world the new iPhone 4G on June 7th, probably sooner than Apple originally planned. AT&T right now is the only cellular company offering the iPhone to subscribers, but Verizon might see iPhones in its stores as soon as 2011. Jobs shouldn't be so upset. While he might need to have a talk with his engineers about leaving protptypes in bars, consumers are very excited about the new and improved 4G model and it has gained an early buzz bigger than Apple or anybody else could have expected.

Written By: Peter Boimare

Things to Come...

2010-04-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

Tech - What's Next?

With all of the advances in technology recently, we're all wondering what will be next. Here is a look into the future of tech (maybe):

5D TV and Movies - We're not even sure what that means yet, but we're pretty sure it will give you some great seizures.

Facebook Elite - Facebook is going to be bought out by Microsoft and will start charging you Microsoft Points to tend to your virtual farm. Not only will you have to keep the Covenant out of your carrot patch, but in the future, Facebook will automatically update your status 24/7 via wi-fi, allowing all of your 352 friends to see that nightmare you have where you walk on out on stage naked at graduation...and then fall off of a building.

Call of Duty 17: Modern Warfare (Treyarch Ward) - Infinity Ward and Treyarch finally solve the issue of who is going to design games in the Call of Duty series, after a series of firings...and mysterious disappearances...and brutal slayings. Instead of "Noob Tubing," "Wrist Rockets" become the newest annoyance. In place of undead Nazis, you have to fight alien zombies that run toward you flailing their arms.

iApple - Apple will release the newest tech craze. It looks exactly like an iPad with a keyboard, has all the features of an iPod, but listen to this...it's a computer! Hey, it could happen...

Google's Cloud

2010-04-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Tech - What's "In The Clouds" For Google?

With all this talk about clouds, I decided to delve a little bit deeper into this new buzz word.

Google's Cloud...

(Image from the Huffington Post, 2010)

No, not that cloud...this one:

So what is this "cloud" anyway? I got on my laptop and went straight to the source...Google.
I typed in "Google Cloud" and hit the search button on Google. I found many results, 85,900,000
to be exact. Many of the results on the first page were for Google's new Docs and Print programs.
While these results all relate to the topic, I wanted to see the homepage for the "cloud", so I kept looking. The website www.googlecloud.com offers a simple format where searches appear in a tag cloud form, with emphasis on the more popular searches. So naturally, I searched for the term "Google Cloud" here too, That sent me back to the orginal search results on Google. I came back to the articles on Docs and Print to see if they offered anymore insight. It was in these blog write-ups that I started to get an idea what the "cloud" really meant.

Ok, so to be fair it's not just Google who is "in the clouds", so to speak. I discovered Microsoft also has their own cloud based services, Azure and, the appropriately named, Skydrive. Google, along with Microsoft, IBM, Apple, and others, offer storage to back up documents and files online. These files are stored on a virtual hard drive that can be accesed from anywhere, instead of tying you down to a pc or thumbdrive. This makes sense with many of the other trends we have seen from software and hardware developers lately. Everything is becoming more portable and easier to access, whenever and wherever you want. Why shouldn't Google get a piece of the pie?

Cloud computing is no doubt one of the hottest trends in technology right now, but with this ease of access also comes a price. Besides just the obvious monetary cost, which ranges depending on provider, the clouds also come with hidden risks. Many privacy advocates have voiced concerns about what companies that offer these clouds are doing with the information on them. Sure, in theory, the clouds sound like a great idea, but are we letting big corporations know too much about us? Aside from that, Google still does not offer encryption on its cloud, with the exception of log-in information. This is a never ending debate, as technology is always evolving and privacy is slowly eroding, as we move further into the future.

So basically Google is offering an alternative means of accessing files on the go. Users can store data in "clouds" that they pay for a piece of. While security in the cloud databases still has not quite yet been perfected, even the US government is using similar cloud systems. We don't know what the future holds for Google's cloud, or the many other developing clouds, but if tech crazes like Apple's iPhone hold any clues for us, clouds are poised to take over as the new way to store files and save or print documents away from the home or office. With Google's immense internet prensence and the stregth of the Google brand, the Google Cloud will likely become one of the top names in the clouds.

Sources Wired.com, GoogleCloud.com, and Wikipedia.

I have a message for fans of the Splinter Cell series: Play

2010-04-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

Gaming Review - Splinter Cell: Conviction (Ubisoft)

Splinter Cell: Conviction is the latest edition to the Sam Fisher saga. In it, Sam Fischer searches for his daughter's killers and becomes caught up in a plot to move stolen Russian EMP devices through a pipleline from Malta. It offer masterfully presented voiceovers and the kind of suspenseful gameplay that is sure to please any fan of the series. There are both single player and co-op modes to let you stealthily wreak havoc on your enemies by yourself or with a friend. Both modes have a unique storyline, so you don't feel like you are playing the same Splinter Cell title twice.

Sam is given an arsenal of high-tech toys that allow him to get the one-up on foes while remaining virtually undetected. Figuring out what methods to dispatch with bad guys is only part of the fun. You also get points awarded to you for stealth kills to unlock new weapons and upgrades throughout the game. You can mark multiple targets, people and environment objects, as you make your way through the story. This can be used to quickly kill enemies or just make your way through an area unseen and unheard. The use of light in Conviction, coupled with intensity changes in the game's music, will get your heart pumping a litter faster as you move in for the kill. While the graphics are not flawless, overall it is still a visually appealing ride. A good storyline, crafty tactical kills in 3 different gameplay modes, and the return of Sam Fisher make for hours of great gameplay, as long as you can be patient enough to not constantly blow your cover! Splinter Cell: Conviction should be enough to make you forget that Sam ever got out of the game in the first place.

Our Rating: A pretty solid, 4 out of 5

Game Trailer:
Splinter Cell: Conviction Video Game, Review | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com

Sources Gametrailers.com and Ubisoft.com

iPhone Espionage

2010-04-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

Tech - Leaked Apple iPhone 4G

Ok, so by now most of us know about how an Apple software engineer left behind his disguised iPhone 4G prototype, and part of his dignity, only to be found be another bar patron and sold to the highest bidder, Gizmodo.com, for $5000. It's a very rare find indeed. Apple is known for keeping it's technology under lock and key, so to them, this iPhone slip-up was a pretty big blow. Here's what we know about the 4G model and its features:

It has two cameras: one in the front for video calls and the one it already had in the back, but with a flash now and bigger lens

higher resolution display

some design changes...some for looks, some for functunality

larger battery, 16% to be exact

a flat back, to allow better reception, possibly made out of glass, plastic, or ceramic

Apple's iPhone OS 4.0

new micro-sim card - the first of its kind in a cellphone that we've seen

a 2nd microphone for better voice clarity

While it's clear Apple was not happy was their lost prototype, it's a big win for the legions of iPhone fans and owners, as well as Gizmodo.com and that lucky guy from the bar who found it. These changes address many requests iPhone owners have been making and should greatly improve quality in phonecalls and other applications. So it's not a James Bond movie...but recovering this technology from an Apple operative probably gave all of the people envolved a 007-esque rush. How do you like your breaking tech news? Shaken, not stirred.

Buy Apple iPhone 3GS, Black (AT&T) at Amazon.com

360 or PS3?

2010-04-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

Gaming - Step in the Ring With Two Gaming Heavy Hitters

Ask most gamers what platform they prefer, and you will probably get one of two answers: PS3(Sony) or Xbox's 360 Sysytem(Microsoft). Gone are the days of titles such as Twisted Metal (the first one) and the original Halo. These have made way for the ultra-real games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and God of War 3. There is no arguing that both developers have uped their technology to meet increasing consumer demands. But what are the differences between the two systems, besides loyalties and personal preferences? How different are the PS3 and 360 really?

Well for one, there's XBox Live. Sure, Sony answered with it's Playstation Network. Ask any XBox fan though, and they will tell you there is no comparision. XBox Live features customizable player avatars (similar to that other system) and access to NetFlix. Then again, Sony offers its online service, with slighly less features included, for a recession friendly price of free...for now. There are plans in the works to offer a premium pay online service with more exclusive content similiar to Microsoft's offering. Even if Sony does implement a pay system for online access, it still has built in wifi. With XBox, the router is external and it costs.

Blu-Ray movies anybody? XBox doesn't offer the Blu-Ray drive that is only found in the PS3. So If you want to see Megan Fox's "assets" on a Blu-Ray DVD in full 1080p, if you don't have a PS3, you can either blow your whole video game budget on a standalone Blu-Ray player or you're just out of luck. The XBox Elite does, however, come with a pair of headphones, so nobody but the entire Microsoft Network can hear when someone yells "Noob!" in your ear after spawn-killing you with a blaster rifle.

The Red Ring of Death...No, it's not a horror movie, but for X-Box users, it might as well be. While Microsoft has claimed to have mostly fixed the issue, it has been an all too common problem among gamers and the subject of much scrunity. PS3's are not indestructible either, but we're going to have to score this one for Sony.

We won't bother you with boring product specs, like how the 360 can analyze 500 million triangles per second or how the PS3 has a 1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance. You know what each system can do: they offer most of the same game titles, similar wireless controllers, and internet access with downloadable movie previews, demos, and customizations to boot. You want to know about prices. Xbox dropped it's price for it's 120 GB Elite system from $400 to $300. The 120 GB Sony PS3 Slim is down to $299 as well. Both systems are backwards compatible for many games. In my opinion, while the 360 is a great system, for overall value, right now it seems like Sony's PS3 is the reigning champ.

Buy these systems:

PlayStation 3 120 GB Xbox 360 120GB Elite Spring 2010 Bundle

Sources Playstation.com and XBox.com

Looking for new tech products?

2010-04-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

Look no further...Amazon.com has just about every type of electronic products imaginable. Pick up the Kindle or shop for other great deals, all right here! If you find a product you would like to see reviewed, that we haven't reviewed yet, please let me know.

Check out Amazon's Bestsellers List.
Electronics Bestsellers

No More Stimulus: CoD: Modern Warfare 2 - Stimulus Package

2010-04-12T20:01:00.000-07:00

Dear Playstation,

Why do you want to charge us 15 bucks for a map pack that is Microsoft's sloppy seconds?
That's $5 a map (if you've already played Crash and Overgrown to death on the first Modern Warfare). Sure there is a multi-level apartment building we can shoot up (Bailout), an industrial park, where we can play amongst the heavy machinery (Storm), and a junkyard set in winter (Salvage), but for $15 it sounds more like another Washington-esque plot, than a solid investment. The new maps do look cool and "Crash" was a great level, but I think my wallet is safer in my pocket.

Yours reluctantly,

Economically Challenged

Sources IGN.com

2010-04-05T16:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

Hope all of you enjoyed your weekend. In case you're bored at work or didn't make it in today, this is perfect for you. I have a "basket" of Easter Eggs. No, not more of the painted, hard-boiled kind...I mean the tech kind! Check out these great links and enjoy the rest of your Monday!

Hidden "eggs" in games, movies, and tv shows on Eeggs.com

Some "digital candy," by way of over 10,000 virtually delicious Photoshop tutorials from Tutorialized.com, if you didn't get enough real candy yesterday...

If you're stuck on some of the coding for your website, you can hop on over to W3 Schools.com for useful HTML tips and tutorials there (or you can just wait for my e-book!)

Enjoy!

pboimare@gmail.com

Blockbuster, a Thing of the Past?

2010-03-31T23:10:00.001-07:00

Tech/Entertainment - Is Blockbuster on the Endangered Species List?

It might seem that way. I was getting some chicken at the Brother's near my dad's house
today and saw a Blockbuster vending machine outside among ads for Camels and Drank. Already having this story in my mind when I went out to grab lunch today, I thought back to the days when, granted I was much younger, but going to Blockbuster was a treat. It was a pretty big deal. Now, YouTube can launch a person's career. IPod Touches have 64 GB now and that can play movies from I-Tunes. Have an XBox 360? NetFlix. If not, there are torrents and those friends that can get you the newest DVD's...whatever you want. Where does this leave room for movie rental stores like Blockbuster?

Movies are being released faster and faster from the "Big Screen" to DVD. (Wasn't that just playing a week ago?) People are just simply not going out to the movie store as frequently and spending as much money as they were in the past. Company shares have dropped down to 25 cents and big investors are pulling out. The writing is on the wall. Blockbuster may well indeed be staring right at chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Musicians are having similar problems with album sales in stores. Cd's just aren't getting sold. Programs like Limewire,Napster, and I-Tunes offer many more accessible options for tech savvy consumers. Blockbuster looks as if it is trying to branch out with DVD vending machines to tap in to some of this "media on demand" lifestyle we are becoming accustomed to, but it still may be too little too late for the once sure thing, movie rental giant. Who knows what the future of movie rentals holds?

Guru Peter
pboimare@gmail.com

Sources The Wall Street Journal

A few quick mini-posts...

2010-03-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

Mini posts - gaming, new features, Xbox & Nintendo news, and Clash of the Titans 3D.

XBox is slimming down for the Summer ( She has to get into bikini shape) - Microsoft is likely to unveil a slimline 360 model to compete with Sony's slimmer new PS3 system. XBox also has set a world premiere for Natal (June 13th in L.A.'s Galen Center), and there's Halo news tba too. What isn't Microsoft up to these days?

Nintendo unveils its Dsi XL as if they didn't already add enough letters. It's here and with a 90% larger screen than the DS Li...whatever. It looks cool though and comes with 3 games.

Upcoming Features:
Top 10 Video Games of All Time Lists from bloggers and gamers - See how they match up. If you would like to see your list included, send me an email and explain what makes you qualified to list your top favorite games on an internet blog. Oh yeah, and a small photo of yourself as an attachment.

New video game reviews.

Dear Playstation: Column. Sony, we have questions. You will probably not answer most of them back.

Clash of the Titans: 2010 - 3D. Looks awesome...I still remember watching the original as a youngster.
HKN5RU9HB3PT

Ign.com

More Clash of the Titans (2010) News & Previews

Sources Kombo.com, , IGN.com

4D TV's? Sharp says yes.

2010-03-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

Tech News: Hi-Def TV's - So 3D and 4D aren't quite the same thing...

Sharp USA (SHCAF.PK) is advertising what they are billing the as the Aquous Quattron, a 4D TV. 4D, in the case of the Quattron, translates the addition of yellow into the normal color spectrum of just red, green, and blue or RGB. Quattron, part of the Sharp Aquous Brand of LCD screen tvs. sports a smart design, at 1.6" thin, in 40-59" models available on their website
Sharp USA.All models support full 1080p hi-definition along wih the revolutionary four-color technology. With yellow thrown in the mix, tv viewers will be able to watch their favorite shows in truer colors than ever before. Think of it is HD on steroids, without the negative side affects, of course. See for yourself...

Click here to view video of new Sharp Quattron

Other LCD TV makers have introuduced 3D televisions to the consumer market. Samsung offers a 3D TV bundle, complete with GD glasses and a copy of Dreamworks film, Monsters Vs. Aliens shot for 3D. Many more films are being released in movie theaters across the country that are shown in 3D or IMAX (Avatar, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Monsters vs. Aliens, to name a few.) LG hopes to control 25% of the global 3D TV market, which will likely see an influx of these sets as the shaky economic market settles. In a bear economy, or even an indecisive bull economy, electronics retailers generally do not see the type of profits in home entertainment and telvesion sales that they would in a more steady economy. Expect to see them line the shleves of stores, maybe as soon as Holiday Season 2010. We are a cusomer driven economy and we always want the best and newest toys...Well I say, we work hard and we deserve the best and newest toys if we want to! Girls, let your men have them, They'll thank you for it later.

As for the Sharp Quattron 4D TV, Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until this summer and shell out, a reported, almost 3000 bucks to get your hands on one...but hey you can always just watch movies at your local IMAX until then! Just don't forget to check back and see what's new on my blog!

Sources Home Media Magazine, Sharp USA, and Reuters

2010-03-21T23:35:00.000-07:00

Tech - Google's Codename: Caffeine

Ok, so it's not exactly the Manhattan Project, but Google's new search tool is certainly poised to improve the way we find information on the web. Google is speeding up and cleaning up its search process. The new Caffeine, aptly named, is supposed to return search results twice as fast as its older version. Google is also taking measures to clean up pornographic material, as well as giving AdSense publishers the option to not run alcohol and pharmacy ads. The changes to Google's formula will also change the way the new Caffeine will rank pages. Caffeine is going to offer a more accurate pagerank (PR), which will mean rethinking S.E.O. for many companies.

Google's Search Engine is built around a series of complex algorithms. With the Caffeine platform, these algorithms are changing in hopes to correct a number of issues Google detected upon evaluating its current search engine. Google recently introduced "real time" updates included in its searches. This allows things such as breaking news and Twitter updates to be seen as they are happening. Google Caffeine is geared toward getting users the information they want faster, so this will do away with a lot of the clutter in cyberspace. Many of the deceptive tactics used previously to get pages to rank higher in search results will become obsolete. Caffeine will instead rank pages that contain more informative keywords and more accurate descriptions higher.

Google's revamping of its search engine couldn't come at a better time. With Microsoft's launch of Bing and its recent $47.2 billion acquisition of Yahoo, the move is a strategic one. Even with Microsoft taking control of the number 2 search engine, it still has a long way to go to catch up with the dominance of the Google brand. In Beta tests, Caffeine still beat out, or tied with, Bing in virtually every category. We're not exactly sure when Google will fully implement its new search, but be on the lookout for information with an extra "jolt" in the very near future.

Sources Mashable.com, Seoroundtable.com,
Online PR News, InfoWorld