Editorial: It’s time to raise the Xbox Live friend limit

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, Features, Home Entertainment, Microsoft, Music, Video Games

Okay, I’ve had enough of the Xbox Live friend limit that Microsoft has imposed on us for far too long. I think this has gone on long enough, and I’m really not seeing a good reason for it. As many Xbox Live gamers know, the current limit on friends you can have is set to 100. The thing is, in the age of social networks like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and all the others, we are now used to connecting with many people in our social graph across many different services.

Now, all that said, there is still one more very annoying piece to this puzzle. Did you know that the Zune Social and Xbox Live share one common friends list? In other words, if you currently have 100 Xbox Live friends, and you go out and buy a Zune, and want to connect with people who also have Zune’s (but don’t necessarily play games,) you are out of luck. You’ll have to remove someone from your Xbox Live friend list to add someone else. This is, in two words, absolutely ridiculous. I get wanting to share the Zune and Xbox ecosystem, but to shoot yourself in the foot like this is just puzzling. I personally have at least 15 people that I would like to add as friends on the Zune Social, but I can’t, because my Xbox Live list is maxed out.

Click to continue reading Editorial: It’s time to raise the Xbox Live friend limit

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Woman Charged Heavily for Downloads

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Editorial, Internet, Music

Back in October of 2007, Jammie Thomas-Rasset was charged with copyright infringement of 24 songs and decided to fight the Recording Industry Association of America and Capitol Records instead of settling. But now a jury has decided that she is guilty and must pay 1.92 million dollars, which comes out to about $80,000 per tune. While it is possible that the RIAA may still settle for less, Ms. Thomas-Rasset is only the first of 20,000 that may be brought to court and is certainly being used to tell us all that her action was a no-no bigtime.

Read More | Mashable

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Five technology trends that will define 2009

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cell Phones, Editorial, Features, GPS, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Software

This is a guest post by LaptopLogic - head over to them to find laptop reviews, laptop news and search their database for the best top rated laptops.

We are nearing the end of the first quarter of 2009, and we think that based on what we’ve seen happen already this year, combined with some announcements of things to come, that we can start to make sense of what 2009 will look like when we look back on it. For instance, we think consumers will see a number of technological advancements in the devices they buy—the laptops, media players, gaming systems, and televisions. That’s always the case. However, we think there are a handful of trends that will dominate the consumer technology market, and we thought we’d take a look at five of them here. Let’s get started:

GPS Everything
It seems that mobile phones and GPS can’t be kept apart these days. With the release of Apple’s wildly successful iPhone 3G, GPS has become a standard feature on many of today’s advanced mobile devices.

While GPS used to be reserved for geeky standalone gadgets, like that of a Garmin or Tom Tom, being able to locate yourself wirelessly is now firmly in the realm of cell phones. And that’s just the start. Expect to see GPS penetrating a greater number of tech devices in 2009.

Click to continue reading Five technology trends that will define 2009

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Office Depot Deceptive Sales?

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Editorial, PC / Laptop

Laptop Magazine reported that there may have been deceptive sales practices at some Office Depots. It started when they went to buy a Gateway laptop and the salesperson first tried to convince them not to purchase it, then tried to get them to buy tech services to go with it. Some comments came in that seemingly verified that behavior in others. The comments drew so much attention that the company issued a statement saying that they don’t condone the practice and are reviewing the situation.

If you have ever been subject to high pressure from associates trying to get you to purchase something in addition to the product, like an extended warranty, you have to know that in certain retail outlets this is where a commission comes in. It us sort of like a McDonald’s employee being forced to ask if you want fries with your Big Mac, but without the extra pay.

Read More | Laptop Magazine

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Electronic Traffic Signs Hacked

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Editorial, Mods / Hacks, Transportation

We were surprised when we learned that electronic road signs are easily hackable. This is because the usually locked access panel is often left unprotected. Even more surprising is that the site iHacked tells you exactly how it is done with step by step instructions. They then caution,

*** WARNING - YOU SHOULD NEVER TAMPER WITH THESE SIGNS ***

Hmm. Isn’t that a bit like posting details on how to build a bomb and then saying that it is for informational use only?

Read More | iHacked

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China Limits Internet Usage, Cites Porn and Obscene Content

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Editorial, Google, Internet

China has decided to cut back on their country’s Internet access to porn and obscene content by blacklisting 19 portals and sites. Included in that list are Netease, Baidu and Google. The deputy director of the State Council Information Office, Cai Mingzhao, said “Immediate action is needed to purify the Internet environment.”

Supposedly the Chinese Google has links to porn sites and although China’s Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center asked them to take them off, nothing was done. A spokesperson there said, “Google is neither the owner of those Web sites and porn nor does it spread (that) information intentionally.” We figure if someone wants to find that sort of content, there is always a way.

Read More | CNN

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Psion Asks Companies Not to Use “Netbook”

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Editorial, PC / Laptop

So much turmoil over such a small thing, literally. Psion owns the trademark to the Netbook, a device they actually created and later discontinued. But it seems as if they would like to make sure that no one else uses the name. jk on the run first found about the dilemma, and seems to be in contact with their “people” who want to make their intentions perfectly clear. They have sent out letters to retailers and manufacturers who are using the term in their products. We were thinking they should be flattered by all the fuss, but what do you think? And what term should be, as they call it, a “legitimate generic?” Mini-book? Notebook-minus? Should we stage a protest or hold a contest?

Read More | jk On The Run

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Last day to enter our Gears of War 2 prize package!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Editorial, Portable Audio / Video, Video Games

Hey, if you haven’t already entered our Gears of War 2 Zune and Game giveaway, what are you waiting for? Today is the last day that we are accepting entries into that particular contest, so if you want in, you’d better head on over to the entry page for the rules. Seriously, entering is quick and easy, and you can walk away with a few hundred dollars worth of Gears of War 2 memorabilia (including a Limited Edition Gears of War 2 Zune!). Nothing to lose, everything to gain kind of thing.

Read More | Gears of War 2 giveaway contest

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Charges Rise on Dell MS XP Downgrade

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Editorial, Microsoft, PC / Laptop

Last June, Dell began to charge customers $20.00 to $50.00 to downgrade to Windows XP. It was up to $100.00 by October. Now it seems that they are charging $150.00. At the same time, we recently read that Microsoft claims that 9 out of 10 Vista customers are satisfied. While we don’t believe everything we read, we keep wondering why Dell is punishing XP users and MS’s inhouse research, with figures that include licenses sold as part of a downgrade package, seems cheerfully optimistic. What do you guys think? Remember when Coke came up with a new version and nobody liked it? It just went away.

Read More | Silicon Alley Insider

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Holiday Gift Guide Flashback: True Christmas Spirit

Posted by Dennis Velasco Categories: Editorial, Features, Family, Kids

Growing up the way I did - barely getting by, fully understanding what hard times meant, and dealing with some messed up family stuff - we never really made Christmas a big deal.  At least, it never really was to me.  For example, one year we couldn’t afford a Christmas tree (but when we did, we kept that thing for like a decade), my mom made us get some fallen twigs outside our apartment and she delicately wrapped them up in tin foil.  We put it in a green vase and I think my sister actually tried decorating it by coloring the tin foil red and green.  Ah, youth.  Well, I couldn’t totally blame her for her attempts to make something bad into something good, afterall, she had a perm and actually thought it looked cool.  But, heck, it was the mid-80s, so the poor choice made by my nine-year-old sibling could be forgiven in retrospect.

In all honesty, the last Christmas I remembered before this particular one I’m about to tell you about when I was eleven, was when I was five.  I got a whole bunch of Micronauts and this huge plastic Spider-Man doll that had a grappling hook, which was supposedly a web that he could “climb.”  Mind you, I don’t blame my parents for any of this lack of remembering several years in between as they always did their best, God bless their hearts, and I’m glad my sister was always in the Christmas spirit, but I knew what was up.  Okay sure, I was a Holden Caufield without knowing I was at the time, but whatever.  I dealt with it.  You couldn’t fool me, I tell ya.

But, this particular Christmas, I got fooled.

Click to continue reading Holiday Gift Guide Flashback: True Christmas Spirit

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