Digital Trends

EA Officially Brings Scrabble to Facebook

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:20:00 PST

The copyright infringement tiff between game makers Hasbro and Mattel over the popular Scrabulous online game has come to a sanctioned end, with game giant Electronic Arts has announced an official version of the classic board game Scrabble will appear on the social networking site Facebook later this month…but it's available now on EA's own Pogo online gaming site. "Scrabble is one of the best social game brands in existence and we've worked diligently with the Hasbro team

Icahn Says Ballmer Still Wants Yahoo

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:45:00 PST

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is busily leading a shareholder revolt against Jerry Yang and Yahoo's current management, irritated that the company turned down a $45 billion-plus payday to sell the company to Microsoft. Icahn's plan to rectify the situation includes replacing Yahoo's board of directors with his own slate at the company's shareholder meeting in August, then taking Yahoo back to Microsoft and trying to make a deal. To bolster his position, Icahn has issued an open letter to Yahoo shareholders in which he claims to have spoken with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer several times over the past week, and quotes Ballmer as sayi

MySims Comes to PC with More Features

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:25:00 PST

When the cartoonishly stylized MySims game launched for Wii back in 2007, it looked like EA had simplified its staple Sims games for a younger Wii audience. But as it turns out, the popularity of the new version has led the company to port it back to the brand’s original platform, PC. EA announced on Monday that MySims would make it to PC along with a few extra features catering to the different system. Along with the story-based elements that made MySims a hit on Wii, the PC version will get an online mode that allows players to share user-generated content with up to seven

Averatec Mimics Mac with All-in-One Desktop

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:00:00 PST

Californian PC manufacturer Averatec hopped on the already crowded iMac clone bandwagon Monday with the launch of its All-in-One PC. The 22-inch machine will bring a host of high-power hardware to the game at a price just a hair more expensive than Apple’s cheapest 20-incher. Much like the iMac and its horde of PC-based offspring, Averatec’s All-in-One packs all its hardware up around the monitor to fit into a single flat slab, but the exterior has been drenched in

Progressive Tracks Cars to Determine Rates

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:35:00 PST

If you’re the kind of driver with high insurance rates because you’re stuck in a crummy statistical demographic, here’s your chance to prove your mettle behind the wheel and break free: Progressive’s new MyRate program will electronically monitor driving habits to determine insurance rates. The insurance company announced on Monday that it would begin rolling out the system in Alabama immediately. Drivers who opt into the program will have to install a small

Who Is The U.K.'s Most-Spammed Man?

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:00:00 PST

Feel sorry for Colin Wells. He’s a workshop foreman in Exeter, England, and he has the misfortune to be the UK’s most-spammed man, with an average of 44,000 spam mails blocked from his inbox every single day – that’s around 16,000 spam mails each year, according to anti-spam software company ClearMyMail. Until the spam was blocked, he was spending two hours a day simply deleting it. He uses Orange as his ISP, as does the runner-up for the dubious title, who only receives 13,578 pieces of spam a day. ClearMyMail could see no connection between the ISP and the amount of spam, however.

Google Asks Viacom To Respect User Privacy

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:00:00 PST

Viacom won the fight to gain access to YouTube user logs in its copyright infringement battle with Google, albeit with limits – according to CNET, Viacom has been told by the court that it can only use the data to prove its copyright infringement case, and can’t pursue individuals in an RIAA style, where people have been targeted for the illegal sharing of copyrighted music. Now, ZDNet reports, Google is asking Viacom to allow it to anonymize the user logs before it has to produce them in court. In a statement, Google said:

Google Faces UK Street View Problems

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:00:00 PST

Google’s Street View mapping tool, which matches photos of locations – including the people who are there are the time - to maps, is die to launch in the UK soon. But one group, Privacy International, feels it breaks UK data protection laws by showing the faces of individuals in the pictures, the BBC reports. Street View is already in use in the US. Where people have complained about being included in a picture there, Google has removed them from the shot. Now the company is experimenting with an algorithm that recognizes and blurs fac

LiveLuggage Power-Assisted Suitcase

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST

When it comes to travel, mankind has come a long way over the past 100 years. We’ve gone from an age of horses and buggies to automobiles, jet airplanes and maglev trains. But despite how fast and efficiently our new vehicles move, the burden of luggage, for the most part, has remained unchanged. After all, no matter how many handles, straps or wheels you put on it, it’s still fundamentally the same thing: Dead weight. Unless, of course, you put a motor in it. British luxury bag-maker LiveLuggage has done just that with its unique power-assisted (PA) suitcase – a long overdue update on the suitcase that coaxes it into doing the work for you. If you’re the type of technophobe who’s already env

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Acer G24 LCD Touts World's Highest Contrast

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:00:00 PST

Acer has officially announced its new G24 LCD display, which the company claims has the highest contrast ratio to be found in any LCD monitor on the planet: 50,000:1. The display is designed to complement the orange-and-black motif of its Aspire Predator gaming PC rigs, along with technologies designed to reduce ambient light reflection and backlight diffusion. The G24 offers a 1,920 by 1,200-pixel native resolution, HDMI connectivity for hooking up to PCs, set-top boxes, and game consoles, along with Acer's OD overdrive techno

Sharp Shows Solar-Powered 26-inch LCTV

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:30:00 PST

At next week's Hokkaido Toyako Summit, Japanese electronics giant Sharp plans to show off a prototype low-power 26-inch LCD television that consumes about a quarter of the power of a conventional 28-inch LCD panel, along with a new triple-junction thin-film solar module technology that uses no scarce or toxic materials and offers a conversion efficiency of almost 10 percent—among the top rates in the industry. Pair the two together, and you get a solar-powered television. Sharp says pairing the the low-power LCD television technology with solar cells is a solution that could

Google Makes Privacy Page One

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:00:00 PST

In a move to appease privacy groups—and possibly to conform with California law—Google has placed a link to its privacy policy right on its home page. The link replaces the word "Google" in what used to be small line dedicated to a copyright statement, so the total number of words on Google's famously spartan home page has stayed the same. Google had recently come under criticism from groups such as the Electronic Privacy Informat

MacBook Air Price Drops

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:00:00 PST

Most companies would trumpet a price drop. Apple, however, has decide to take another route, and made the $500 drop in the retail prices of its fastest MacBook Air without a word. The ultra-thin notebook was introduced with much fanfare in January, and until last week cost $3,098. Then MacRumors.com discovered the price for the deluxe model has suddenly fallen to $2,598. It’s believed that the reduction is due to the lower price of the 64GB solid-state drive, which has dropped $400, and the 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, down $100 according to

Digital Trends Week In Review 07/04/07

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:00:00 PST

Skype Gets New COO

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:00:00 PST

It’s been a year of change at VoIP company Skype. First they appointed a new president, Josh Silverman, in March. Then they announced the beta of their Skype 4.0 upgrade. And now they’ve got a new chief operating officer in Scott Durschlag, who arrives after spending five years as part of Motorola’s Mobile Devices management team. "I believe in Skype not only because I've been a user since the early days, but because I'm convinced the opportunities ahead for Skype are tremendous given how the world is changing," said Durchslag. "Skype combines superior multimedia communications technology with making the

Tax Checks Spent On Online Porn

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:00:00 PST

The President called it an economic stimulus plan, with each household receiving checks in the mail. And it has proved to be a stimulus for some – according to the Adult Internet Market Research Company (AIMRCo), the big beneficiary has been the online porn industry. Kirk Mishkin, head research consultant for AIMRCo, said: "Many of the sites we surveyed have reported 20-30 per cent growth in membership rates since mid-May when the checks were first sent out, and typically the summer is a slow period for this market." Jillian Fox, a spokewoman for one of the sites that contributed to the survey, said: "In a June 15, 2008 s

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Asus Eee PC 901

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:53:51 PST

Asus has launched a bigger (and better) version of its popular Eee PC. Dubbed the Eee PC 901, this new version includes a lot of welcome improvements from the previous model, including more screen real estate, storage, and processing power. Asus also now offers the 901 with either Linux or Windows XP, and both versions cost the same too. We received a Linux version for testing and like it much better than the original unit, though the keyboard is still a bit too cramped for our tastes. We’d also prefer the XP version, as Linux is relatively easy to use but it’s still disorienting for long-time Windows users like ourselves.

VTech IS6110 Cordless Phone with IM

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST

Cell phones may be moving us further and further away from using conventional landlines, but there’s no question that the convenience they offer comes with a quite literal price attached. For instance, with most companies, even the cheapest cell phone plan will set you back far more than a full-featured landline with unlimited nationwide calling. For those who need to scrimp and save, sticking to landlines make a lot of sense if you can stomach the lack of features. VTech’s new IS6110 makes the prospect of using a landline much more tolerable by adding in one of the handiest options from the quicker-paced cell-phone world: Instant messaging. It moves to the top of the somewhat stagnant market for cordless phones by pu

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Nextar T30

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:43:57 PST

For you Walmart, Kmart, or Canadian Tire (no joke) shoppers out there, the brand Nextar is a familiar name. Nextar prides itself in producing low cost electronics packed with cool features and designs. The latest attempt to woo customers is the T30 PMP (portable media player) with a 3.5-inch screen, 4GB of built-in memory, an SD slot for an additional 2GB of memory and more for the retail price of only $100.00 US. But like the old saying goes “you get what you pay for”.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W300

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:43:20 PST

It’s hard to believe you can buy a 13.6-megapixel point-and-shoot digicam for under $349 USD from a top brand—not simply a piece of junk from some godforsaken outfit working in the farthest depths of this globalized world. Think 13 or 14MP is a lot? There’s no end to the megapixel race as camera makers constantly try to outdo one another day-by-day. We’ve heard 14-plus megapixel compacts are due in September and we even expect 25MP D-SLRs to be introduced at the Photokina 2008 trade show around that time. Pretty amazing stuff…Now the question for buyers is pretty simple—is this total overkill and is an 8MP point-and-shoot like $249 USD Canon SD1100 IS really all you need? Or is a camera like the Sony DSC-W300 just your cup of pixels?

Scratch Your Bits: A Digital DJ Guide

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 PST

iPod Classic 160GB, $349 It's simple and reliable, and you can fill it with tons of hi-res music files so most fans will never know you've gone digital. It's like having the biggest box of vinyl you could imagine, but in your pocket -- and you can search it by keyword. It's also compatible with an increasing array of digital DJ gear. (

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Bill Gates' Is Gone: What Comes Next?

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 PST

Bill was and is unique in this industry and changed a lot over the course of time he ran Microsoft. He started out as one of the barbarians challenging the hated status quo and eventually became a part of the new hated status quo for the following generation. He, and Microsoft, provide a cautionary tale for Google in that just as Google has positioned itself with its “do no evil” model as the anti-Microsoft, Microsoft positioned itself as the anti-IBM and eventually became much of what it didn’t like as it aged. I could spend my time talking about why that was and how to avoid it but I doubt many of you would really care and those that should listen likely wouldn’t anyway. But I’m not jaded or anythi

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Garmin NÃ¼vi 680

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:00:26 PST

If you look up Nuvi in the dictionary, you won’t find anything, and on a traditional US keyboard, it’s hard to even type N ü (hold down alt, then on your numeric keypad type 0252) v i. Go ahead, give it a shot. But if you go into any major retail store that offers GPS units you will definitely find Garmin Nüvi GPS units all over the place competing as one of the best in car, on the trail or in the airplane navigation system solutions money can buy. Today we are looking at their 680 model which features Bluetooth connectivity and MSN Direct which provides real-time traffic data, movie times and more. The Garmin Nüvi 680 has a street price of around $399 USD. Check out our full review after the jump.

Best Laptops Under $500

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 PST

ThinkPad R61e $487.69 Although ThinkPads have a reputation for being pricier premium notebooks intended for business travelers, a little smart shopping can land you this budget model on a shoestring. It’s not as fast as the flagship T-series, or as light as the X-series, but the R61 has been reviewed favorably in its price range and includes many of the same features Lenovo rolls into those pricier ThinkPads. When ordering, make sure to choose the second-from-cheapest model to get an Intel Dual Core processor rather than a Cel

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Gateway P-6860FX

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:25:32 PST

Usually the words “gaming” and “budget-oriented” combine in the PC world about as well as oil and water, but that’s not the case with Gateway’s remarkable P-6860FX notebook, which is a truly great gaming notebook with an amazingly low price tag. This GeForce 8800-powered behemoth costs just $1,349 but is far from a stripped-down, bare-bones notebook. It’s loaded with features and expansion ports and has lots of storage as well as 4GB of RAM. The only real compromise is its 1.83GHz processor, but that’s not too egregious of a violation given its otherwise compelling specs.

Living With the HTC Diamond: Closer but Not Yet an iPhone Killer

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 PST

This last week I’ve been traveling throughout Japan and switching between the HTC Advantage I normally carry and the new HTC Touch Diamond that recently was released in Europe and will soon come to the US. Overall I’m impressed with this phone, but have realized that for me a touchscreen phone that doesn’t have a keyboard for email is simply too painful to use whether it is this new HTC product or the ever-popular Apple iPhone. But I also concluded that, for me, I actually prefer the HTC Touch Diamond over the iPhone for two simple reasons: It is vastly smaller and it is more exclusive than the iPhone currentl

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