With Valentine's Day but a sweet memory this week, I thought we'd take a look at the other side of love, divorce, and the dubious role Facebook can play in the ensuing battles. PC World has published a great article "Marriage On The Rocks? Better Stay Off Facebook" that cites some frightening facts for all the Facebook fanatics out there.

According to a survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Layers (AAMl), 81 percent of its members have, in the past five years, seen an increase in the number of divorce cases using social networking evidence.

Facebook leads the pack with 66 percent of survey respondents citing it as the primary source. MySpace and Twitter made a splash as well, with 14 percent and five percent, respectively.

So, as we are always warned, watch what you do on social networking sites! Not only could bad behavior cost you your job, your friends, or your relationship, it could lead to nasty divorce court problems and "evidence" you probably don't want anyone to see.

-posted by Stephanie

There's been a lot of talk recently about 3D TV, especially during and following the big CES show in Las Vegas a few weeks back. With so many announcements about the future of 3D TV and products - the idea has entered the minds of many folks outside of the technology community.

For example, a friend of mine recently explained to me that he would have 3D TV soon, as he had heard ESPN was going to start broadcasting in 3D. I started to ask him about the new TV he would need to invest in, how he would like wearing glasses whenever he watched, etc. Not to my surprise, he didn't know about any of the pieces that go into making the 3D TV experience (not only the channel or movie, but the TV, the glasses, the new players...), he though it would be as simple as flipping to the channel. 

I suspect this is true for many people - people have heard fleeting mentions of "3D TV: Coming Soon," but what does it really entail?

CNET's Crave blog has put together a fantastic FAQ on all things 3D TV. From what TVs will be needed to the particular glasses that your family will need to wear - it's all there. 

Some interesting tidbits:

- Viewer comfort is a big concern for 3D content producers - as 3D can sometimes cause disorientation or headaches after extended periods (for some people)

- The 3D glasses you will need to watch 3D TV are not the same as the ones you use to watch regular 3D movies in the theater

- Between 5 and 10 percent of Americans cannot see 3D due to stereo blindness.

- Glasses alone could cost upwards of $100 a pair (although no maker has specified exact cost)

Check out the Crave article to see the rest of the FAQ and learn more about 3D TV technology.

-posted by Stephanie

Interesting and slightly amusing article posted on MediaPost's Online Spin - and in honor of our colleague Justin's recent nuptials, I will blog about it.

The author of the article, Joe Marchese, is getting married this Saturday, and he describes the important role social media played in the planning of the wedding. Faccebook allowed him to reach out to almost every friend or family member he wanted to invite (to get addresses, share info and pester for RSVPs), Pandora and iTunes helped him find music they would like for their playlist and a Twitter vote helped them choose a song for the procession. Additionally, Joe used Twitter and Facebook to find recommendations for his honeymoon and plans to use iPhone apps for advice while they are traveling.

Joe ends his article with the question "How did people do all of this before social media?"

As someone who planned their wedding pre-Twitter-mania (2007, aghast!), I can answer that. Hardly any of my family members were on Facebook, so I had to use the phone and my mother to get addresses, call for RSVPs, share information, etc. I looked through pages and pages of lists of "popular wedding songs," added most of them to my "do not play list" and found the rest of my music via movies a love (namely Father of the Bride, My Best Friend's Wedding, etc. etc.)... which didn't even end up mattering because my DJ only played two songs from the list and instead filled the rest of my reception with such favorites as "Baby Got Back." Anyway, my point is, it sounds like social media really is taking out some of the blood, sweat and tears of planning weddings, or really any event, as people and resources are more accessible on a wider scale.

But I guess we'll have to see what Justin's take on this is when he returns from his honeymoon... hopefully recovered from the trials and tribulations of planning the big day. And good luck to Joe over at  Online Spin - may his big day be a success!




-posted by Stephanie

CNN has posted a HILARIOUS article called "The 12 most annoying types of Facebookers." To the uninitiated Facebooker, this article may not make much sense, but I assure you, it is dead on. The article lists 12 Facebook "types," all annoying of course, any by golly I have at least one friend who falls into every category. From "The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore" to "The Bad Grammarian," I've seen it all. 

Other annoying Facebooker types include (humorous and detailed descriptions are found in the article):
The Self-Promoter
The Friend-Padder
The Town Crier
The TMIer
The Sympathy-baiter
The Lurker
The Crank
The Paparazzo
The Maddening Obscurest
The Chronic Inviter

I'm sure everyone has fallen into one of these categories at least one time or another. So, which one are you? 



-posted by Stephanie

BSkyB (also known as British Sky Broadcasting) will launch Europe's first 3D television channel in the UK next year - offering movies, sports and entertainment programming. According to an article in the UK's Guardian, BSkyB, a satellite broadcaster that thinks 3D TV may be reality within the next few years, is planning to get moving on an all-3D channel, after getting a major boost in subscribers to its Sky+ HD set-top box, which is also capable of broadcasting in 3D. Once the channel is available, customers can use their current Sky+ HD box, but will need to get a special televisions set, and will need to get their own 3D glasses. 

With this on the horizon, I think it's time UK designers start work on lines of fashionable 3D glasses - right? If people are going to be able to watch 3D TV at home all the time, disposable paper glasses just won't do... 

If this works out well, it might not be long until we, here in America, are crowding around our own TVs to catch a baseball game in 3D.

-posted by Stephanie

Slate V (the online video magazine from editors of Slate, one of five online properties produced by Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive) has a fun video up today, in honor of the Apollo 11 moon landing anniversary, that takes a look at how today's media might cover the news if it happened in 2009. Many of the clips, including those of celebrities saying how amazing the news is, were actually taken from media coverage of the 2008 presidential election and are in reference to President Obama.

Watch the video here.

-posted by Stephanie

Twitterature, coming soon from Penguin Books. According to Mashable, Twitterature, the brain child of some University of Chicago freshmen, takes the classics and cuts them down into twenty Twitter-length tweets. So the great works of Shakespeare, for example, would be reduced to twenty tweets, 140 characters or less of course.

According to the creators, these "hipster's Cliff Notes" are the "birthday, Christmas, Hanukah and 4th of July for ever hip young person between the ages of 18 and 35 in this country"... quite a bold statement I'd say. Another example of Twitter infiltrating everything from television shows to classic literature!

-posted by Stephanie

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has released a report, "The Mobile Difference," which places American adults into 10 different Internet user types, depending on how they feel about information technology, what kind of information technology they have in their lives and how they use it in their lives.

CNN has published an interview with the project's associate director of research, in which they explore some of the details of the user types quiz and results. Below is a sampling of some of the 10 user types and the percentage of respondents that identified with each type.

-Digital Collaborators - use information gadgets to collaborate with others and share their creativity with the world - 8%

-Ambivalent Networkers - heavily use mobile devices to connect with others and entertain themselves, but don't always like it when the cell phone rings - 7%

-Desktop Veterans - dedicated to wireline access to digital information and like how it opens up the pipeline to information - 13%

-The Tech Indifferent - unenthusiastic about the Internet and cell phones - 10%

-Off the Network - neither cell phone nor Internet users - 14%

Take the quiz here and see what type of user you are, Digital Collaborator? Ambivalent Networker?

-posted by Stephanie

Darren Gladstone, PC World, posted an interesting article about PlayOn from MediaMall Technologies. PlayOn allows users to use a game console or networked television to access shows from places like YouTube, Hulu, etc., to watch on their TV. The software pulls in the media streams and sends them directly over your home network to you device, even converting the format on the fly to make sure devices can play them.

This sounds pretty fantastic, as someone who has a furious love/hate relationship with Comcast (I love TV, but hate everything about my cable bill, service and did I mention the huge bill?). So how does it measure up? According to Darren the quality is no 1080p, but looks good enough considering the money savings. No fancy interface, just simple folder navigation. Consistent software updates to fix quarks from MediaMall. Not the smoothest performance overall. But Darren seems hopeful that with some work, PlayOn can evolve into a great experience for people looking for an alternate way to view television programming.

-posted by Stephanie

Time.com  has compiled a list of the top ten things to buy right now - if you have the cash - for great deals. While some of the items are likely out of reach for most of us (houses, country club memberships, and even new cars), some of these are downright good ideas to get now well prices are low. If you're looking for computer memory, upgrading to four gigabytes is only $50, whereas two years ago it would've put you out 200 bucks. Or if you yearn for a new digital camera, many retailers and manufacturers are offering markdowns between 30 and 50 percent.

Personally, I think I will take advantage of the killer deals on lobster, ball gowns and home decor and throw myself a sweet dinner party.

Here is the full list of bargains:

Fancy Threads
Computer Memory
Cameras
Stuff for Your House (from bedding to HDTVs)
Lobster
New Cars
Travel
Country Club Membership
Housing
Stocks



-posted by Stephanie

Apple is about to hit one billion app downloads - one billion! To celebrate, anyone who downloads an app will be automatically entered to win a $10,000 iTunes gift card, an iPod Touch, a Time Capsule and a MacBook Pro. I'm not sure how you could ever begin to spend $10,000 on iTunes, but I'm sure there are plenty of Apple fans out there willing to give it a try. TechCrunch has also announced that they will be offering a TechCrunch t-shirt to whoever can guess (or get closest to) the date and time that Apple will cross the one billion mark.

Apple has a counter up on their homepage - and it's moving at an insanely rapid pace. In the 10 seconds it took me to type that sentence, almost 3,000 apps were downloaded. Wow! You can keep track of the count at http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/.



-posted by Stephanie

I'm not going to lie, I love the Snuggie. I don't actually have one, but I love the idea of the Snuggie and every time I see one - now that they have invaded the shelves of my local Target, Walgreens and Bed Bath and Beyond - I am tempted to throw down $15 and give in. And now, if I ever have children, there is yet another fleece blanket with extremely convenient holes to tempt me - I give you, the Peekaru.

Gizmodo has introduced me to this wonderous creation. It better be higher quality fleece than the Snuggie for $80, however, it is already light years ahead of its predecessor, as I see it has a zipper and actual seams [and more than a passing resemblance to the creature from Alien - Ed.].



-posted by Stephanie

The 2009 Earth Hour will take place this Saturday, March 28th, at 8:30 pm (local time). During this event, people from all over the world are asked to turn off electronics - smartphones, computers, lights, etc. - for one full hour. This year's event organizers, the World Wildlife Fund, are hoping for 1 billion participants and have turned the 2009 event into a sort of election between Earth and global warming, saying that switching your lights off is a vote for Earth, while leaving them on is a vote for global warming. The WWF plan to present the results of the "election" to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference later this year.

Earth Hour first began in Sydney, Australia in 2007, when 2.2 million businesses and residents turned off their lights. During the following year, 2008, such world landmarks as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all jumped on board and went dark for the hour. This year, the Empire State Building, the Acropolis and the Eiffel Tower all plan to participate, and many electronics manufactures have joined the cause as well.

According to an eWeek article, the following companies have taken action for Earth Hour:

-Research in Motion has launched a special website for their Blackberry users supporting Earth Hour.

-Belkin International released a statement reminding people of the importance of Earth hour and that they should remember to make sure to unplug devices from standby power to save the most electricity.

-HSBC will have all employees switch of all non-essential electronics, such as light, TVs and computers for the hour.

-Vodacom, South Africa's largest cellular network, will turn off its electronic billboards and shut off lights at 15 offices throughout the country.

-Suntech Power Holdings will turn off lights at its solar headquarters in China and hold an event themed "What do we do if the Earth has no electricity?"

-Con Edison will turn off the lights at the company's Manhattan headquarters and have teamed up with WWF to ask NYC resides to join the cause.

The concept is simple enough and an hour is such a short amount of time, but will you participate? Can you shut off your iPhone or TV for one hour in the name of the Earth?



-posted by Stephanie

Apple has announced that as of March 19th high-def movies are available for purchase via the iTunes store, beginning with box office hits "Quantum of Solace" and, of course, "Twilight." Until now, Apple has only offered HD movies as rentals, however HD television shows have been available. As Engadget points out, each HD movie purchased will come with an HD file and an iPod or iPhone-ready SD file and will cost $19.99.

-posted by Stephanie

A new research report from the Centers for Disease Control shows that an increasing number of people have ditched the old land-line in favor of a mobile-exclusive lifestyle. Somewhat surprising to me was the fact that Oklahoma has the highest percentage of cell-only households and adults, with 26.2 percent of households and 25.1 percent of adults having no land-line phone. Other high-ranking states include Utah, Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho and Kentucky - while states like New York and California rank in the bottom half, with only 11.4 percent and 9.0 percent, respectively. As far as our home state, Washington, we are in a three-way tie with Michigan and North Carolina, with 16.3 of households adopting the cell-only rule.

While this is great news for wireless companies, this is posing a bit of a problem for data collectors and census takers as cell phone numbers are generally left out of data gathering pools - so an increasingly larger number of people aren't being reached for things such as election polls. It also doesn't help that the large majority of those that have adopted the cell-only lifestyle are part of the same demographic (younger) and therefore are underrepresented in said polls. Perhaps in the future polls will be conducted via text messages...



-posted by Stephanie

90's pop sensation and Gwen Stefani-catapult No Doubt is reuniting for a tour this summer and have introduced an interesting promotion for their ticket sales. According to a recent PC World article, fans who join No Doubt's Tour Club for $15 are offered the chance to purchase up to 4 "prime tickets" to their summer tour. For each prime ticket the club member purchases they receive a free download of the band's entire digital catalog - which adds up to something like six full albums in addition to greatest hits-type records and additional singles. Good deal! The No Doubt website mentions some restrictions - such as you probably won't get the download code until 30 days after the ticket purchase and it expires 30 days after the concert... however, when you join the Tour Club, you also get a No Doubt bumper sticker and iron-on patch, which will be perfect to go on my Jansport backpack that I use to carry my Lip Smackers, Lisa Frank folders and slap bracelets (that was an ode to other 90's kids).

-posted by Stephanie

Recently, I saw an awe-inspiring commercial for the arena spectacular "Walking with Dinosaurs," advertising tickets for the show's visit to Seattle in late April. The show is based on the award-winning BBC TV series of the same name and promises to be an experience like none other. "Walking with Dinosaurs" includes 15 life-size creatures that walk, roar, and fight each other. Ten separate dinosaur species are represented in the show, including Plateosaurus, Stegosaurus, Allosaurus and, the biggest of all, Tyrannosaurus Rex, which is a whooping 23 feet tall and 42 feet long!! Yikes! Each dinosaur requires 7 kilowatts of power from 12 truck batteries, holds 1,094 yards of cabling, and requires 24 microprocessors to control movement along with 15 hydraulic rams and 6 hydraulic motors each.

While my personal dinosaur knowledge doesn't extend much farther than a prehistoric diorama I made in the 4th grade - I am definitely going to check out this extravaganza while it's in town. I mean, the producer says "It is the closest you'll ever get to experiencing what it was like when they walked and ruled the earth." How could I miss that?



-posted by Stephanie

The Presidents of the United States of America have made an interesting move, foregoing the Apple iTunes Store and offering their entire discography for $2.99 through the App Store instead. The app, called "The Presidents' Music - PUSA" offers users access to all four of the band's full albums, including early "lost" recordings, as well as extras like direct access to the band's blog. According to an article from Ars Technica, by doing this, The Presidents are able to escape the "bureaucratic red tape of the record labels and iTunes Store" and get their music in the hands of people they might otherwise not reach if it was lost in the shuffle of iTunes. The article also details the way the app works (the music is streamed to the app from a server, so the device must be connected to a network) and notes that while this enables the band to continually update the app's content, it also allows them to pull content at any time.

While The Presidents aren't the first band to try out this model (Snow Patrol released an interactive album last year this way), they are turning a big corner by offering up their entire catalog of music for one very low fee. Wonder if other artists will follow suit?



-posted by Stephanie

"Blow a Kiss" is a free iPhone App, created by Walmart and Hershey's, that allows you to blow kisses to your loved ones this Valentine's Day... be they near or far. Once you have downloaded "Blow a Kiss" from the Apple App Store and launched it, you simply type in your name, the recipient's name and email address and whatever message you'd like to include. Then, you romantically blow a kiss into the phone's screen - including smooching noises - and an email is sent to your honey that is bursting with pink hearts and warm fuzzy feelings.

A CNET writer did a write-up of the app after trying it out. It seems to work well, but, like he says, can't guarantee you'll get a kiss back.


(Image courtesy: http://www.blushpublishing.co.uk/images/card_lo016_2.jpg)

-posted by Stephanie

As a celebrity news connoisseur, I'm always keen to check out the latest gossip sites or magazines, especially if they offer funny commentary or up-to-the-minute pictures. In an effort to stay current, MSN (www.msn.com) has introduced a new kid to the block (pun intended). Microsoft's online service, is launching Wonderwall, in conjunction with Hollywood television producers Lloyd Braun and Gail Berman, and designed by a founding editor of VH1's Best Week Ever blog. Wonderwall looks like a wall with of tons of photos, graphics and features, and is meant to resemble the image-filled pages of a glossy magazine. BusinessWeek profiled the new site this week and the article includes some interesting statistics about online gossip sites, including the facts that 84% of people on the Internet (men and women!) visit an entertainment site every month, meaning the entertainment category is more popular than social networks, retail and other traditional news outlets. No specific date has been given for the official unveiling of Wonderwall, but a beta version is now up at www.wonderwall.com.

-posted by Stephanie

CareerBuilder is offering a new spin on the anonymous tipoff. Ever wanted to tell a coworker they "smell like the inside of an old cabin" or wanted to encourage someone to pop in a mint after lunch? Using CareerBuilder's Anonymous Tip Giver you can, with a friendly message delivered by one of four characters. These characters include a mustached businessman with strategically torn holes in his shirt, a barefoot businessman laying across a baby grand, a zombie business woman hovering over her desk and, of course, an alligator (or perhaps crocodile) in a shirt and tie.

After choosing which character you'd like to deliver your helpful tip, you can choose a pre-written message (some of the best are below), choose a delightful voice to deliver the message (you may also choose to record your tip by phone, which might make it less than anonymous), preview and then send to the poor soul in need of a heads-up.

There aren't many "premade" tips - I suppose if you are using a tool like this, you already know exactly what you want to say - but the ones they do have are pretty funny. Here are my favorites:

"One out of 10 people think your barking dog ringtone is funny. That one person is you"

"Next time you're like, giving a presentation, like to the boss, you should like say "like" less."

"You smell like the inside of an old cabin. I thought you should know."

Be aware, a small disclaimer along the bottom of the page warns that "emails created are not private messages and can be viewed and played by others on the internet." Tipsters beware.

-posted by Stephanie

Will President Obama get to keep his beloved Blackberry? Well, sort of. During the 2008 election, President Obama was not shy when discussing his love for his BlackBerry, even responding to an interviewer asking about his worst habit with, "Checking my BlackBerry." However, when he secured his spot in the White House, the future of his trusted gadget was unclear.

But alas! The President has already won this one, and has been given the okay to use a special, security-enhanced BlackBerry on a day-to-day basis, to keep in touch with both his senior staff and close friends and family (only a select few will be given his email address). According to an article by the Associated Press, Obama will be the first sitting president to use e-mail, as some previous presidents have chosen not to correspond via email, as all messages can be subpoenaed by Congress, courts, and may be subject to public records laws.

A cool article from Network World breaks down the security features the special BlackBerry might need. President Obama seems to be pretty in-tune with technology... maybe an ObamaBlog is on the horizon....?



(Image courtesy Computer Weekly)

-posted by Stephanie

Australia's Queensland tourism department is now accepting applications for the "best job in the world." And they aren't kidding. According to an article in BusinessWeek, the tourism department is seeking one person to live on Hamilton Island, along the Great Barrier Reef, for six months, during which the new-hire will be required to walk along the sandy beaches, snorkel, swim... basically live the hard life. Oh, but there's a catch! The employee will be required to blog about their experiences weekly, including photos and videos of things they do around the island. So, blog-aphobics need not apply... unless you can be swayed by the $100,000 (150,000 Australian dollars) paycheck that comes along with the six month "job."

This doesn't sound too shabby...

Applications are being accepted until February 22nd, and the job will begin on July 1st. If you think you could handle blogging from paradise for $100k, apply at www.islandreefjob.com

-posted by Stephanie

The announcement of Google Mail Goggles is cracking me up. If you haven't already heard, the Goggles (hopefully) prevent you from sending email you may later regret, be they the product of inebriation or whatever else you might do on Saturday night. When enabled, the Goggles check to make sure you really want to send that email to your ex-boyfriend at 2 am on Friday night with, what else, but a few math problems. I guess the idea is that if you are cognizant enough to solve some math problem, you can be trusted to make the right decision on your own. However, if you cannot answer what 196 x 7 is, maybe you should wait until the morning to profess your love or tell someone off. I like this idea... although I think for some people it might be more useful on cell phones...

-posted by Stephanie

I've been trying to resist blogging about the "I Am Rich" application for the iPhone since it first started making news last week, but I can't hold back any more. After a respectable 8 purchases, the $999.00 app has been pulled from the App Store... but it still has some "fans." Gizmodo has posted a guided tour of the "I Am Rich" app, and it is truly a work of art - I mean, how can you not get ahead with the inspiring mantra and beautiful gem that glows in the background, reminding you that "you could afford it." Watch this video, its delightful... and if they ever let "I Am Rich" back in the App Store, consider getting it, you "deserv" it!

-posted by Stephanie

As a follower of celebrity gossip, I buy certain weekly magazines on occasion to catch up with what my favorite stars are up to. One magazine always has a section called "Celebrities, They're Just Like Us!" which I disdain. They include pics of celebrities being "just like us" normal folks, and include such stupid things as buying groceries, wearing hats, walking, driving, etc. Wow, after seeing a picture of a Jennifer Aniston buying a gallon of milk I do suddenly feel like she is just like me!

Right...

Anyways, I saw this article in Forbes about celebrities who choose not to (or don't know how to) use technologies most of us use on a regular (and by regular I mean constantly, all the time) basis.

For example, Vince Vaughn doesn't have a cellphone. Orlando Bloom doesn't use email or even own a computer. Paul McCartney doesn't know how to use an ATM. President Bush doesn't use email (and was famously quoted in 2006 for saying he uses "the Google" to look at maps). Simon Cowell doesn't know how to use a computer. There are many more examples and funny tidbits in the article.

I think this does teach us an important lesson.... celebrities aren't just like us... which is probably a good thing.

-posted by Stephanie

This week, our fearless leader, Paul, was part of a panel presentation put on by Businesswire (www.businesswire.com) about PR during times of recession. A few of us had the pleasure to attend and heard some really interesting insights from a variety of industry experts, including Jennifer Gehert (Communique PR), Amy Bohutinsky (Zillow) and of course, our very own Paul Forecki. The panel was moderated by Erik Elvejord (Holland America Line).

Below are some pictures from the event, enjoy!


The panel (From left: Erik Elvejord, Amy Bohutinsky, Jennifer Gehrt, and Paul Forecki)














-posted by Stephanie

VOXUS client AirMagnet is in the midst of a nationwide 802.11n workshop series, and when they hosted the event in Seattle, I had the opportunity to attend. Led by wireless expert Keith Parsons, the event is a rundown of all things 11n, and I left feeling as though I could successfully deploy a new 802.11n network all by myself (with the right AirMagnet tools, of course). So far, the workshop has been held in Atlanta, Seattle and San Jose. Upcoming dates include Washington D.C. (June 10) New York City (June 11) and Chicago (June 12). If you'd like more information about the event or would like to register to attend, go here.

Below are a few pictures from the Seattle event.

Wireless expert Keith Parsons prepares to share his knowledge with the group.


Attendees prepare to absorb lots of 802.11n information.


-posted by Stephanie

So, on May 21st, Wii Fit was released in the U.S. (with the exception of NYC, which got an early batch last Monday). As a proud owner of a Wii (which was played constantly for the first month or two after Christmas and has since been collecting quite a bit of dust... which I suspect has happened to many of the Wii owners such as myself who have no kids and can only swing a remote in the air like a tennis racket so many times before finding the couch and American Idol far more interesting) I am very intrigued by this whole concept.

The Wii Fit is a bundle of game software and a white board that you stand on that can weigh you (boo!) and sense your movements (yay!). "Games" include yoga, hula hooping, skiing, running and many more. There have been a ton of articles written in the past week about the Wii Fit, including this one from CNN that gives a good summary of what it's like to actually experience the Wii Fit. The general consensus seems to be that it is super fun, somewhat challenging and will get people off the couch and moving around, although it may not be quite enough to replace regular work-out routines.

In conclusion, yes, I will probably go out and buy this new contraption, because I do things like that - and yes, it will probably be fun and entertaining - but no, I don't think I will be canceling my gym membership... at least not yet.

-posted by Stephanie

The winners of the 2008 Best of Interop Awards were just announced at the Interop Las Vegas show, where VOXUS client AirMagnet won the Best of Interop Award in the Mobile and Wireless category. This is the second year in a row that AirMagnet has won the prestigious award.

You can find the full list of this year's winners at http://www.bestofinterop.com/winners/

-posted by Stephanie

Blogs are becoming more and more powerful every day. It looks like super-blogger Perez Hilton, aka Mario Lavandeira, is once again parlaying his widespread influence into a new job. First it was VH1 specials and guest appearances on television shows, now, as the New York Times was first to report, Hilton is negotiating a deal that would give him clout at Warner Brothers Music. On his gossip blog, Perez often blogs about new artists, usually unknown and sometimes unsigned, and songs that he thinks his readers will enjoy. With 2.8 million visitors each month, these postings get a lot of exposure, so much so that the blog has been credited with these relatively unknown artists breaking into the top 10 on iTunes and gaining priceless exposure with club promoters and record labels. If the deal goes through, Hilton will be using his keen ear to bring these future stars to the Warner Brothers label.

And to think, it all started with a blog...

-posted by Stephanie

If you are look for some last minutes ideas on where to take that special someone for Valentine's Day, Network World has a new slide show up that lists the 10 best places to take a techie on a date. Grabbing the coveted number one slot is San Francisco's Exploratorium, a so-called "playground for the techie in us all," NWW even mentions that if you can't make it to the real location, you and your date's avatars can visit the Second Life version... so romantic. Also making the top ten are Cambridge's MIT Museum, Universal Studios Hollywood, and Seattle's very own Experience Music Project, which comes in at #7.

-posted by Stephanie

After watching their presentation at DEMO '08, John Cook recently wrote about a new "current affairs search engine" in his Venture Blog named Silobreaker because of the founder's desire to break the "silos" of traditional media. Nominated as the official VOXUS Guinea pig for all things Silobreaker, my initial report is very positive - with Silobreaker offering a fresh alternative to traditional search engines. Not only can you search through current news stories, videos, research reports, and pretty much anything else imaginable, you can also track trends in media coverage of companies, people and topics. Not to mention a cool feature that shows a visual web of relationships between searched items and other newsmakers. So far, very awesome tool... more to come after further investigation.

-posted by Stephanie

Voxus client Sandlot Games has just announced a sweet contest, the Jill Evans Look-a-Like contest. Sandlot is encouraging all the Cake Mania fans out there to send in a picture dressed as Jill, the cake-baking heroine of the mega-popular Cake Mania games. They will be accepting photo entries until November 12, the grand prize winners will receive a Nintendo DS in addition to other game prizes. You can find out more about the contest and how to enter here.

-posted by Stephanie

The Ergo Bike Premium 8i has finally arrived. Germany's Daum Electronics has started to ship to the U.S. - 20 have come so far - the most high tech and interactive stationary exercise bike ever. The Ergo Bike allows riders to virtually compete with other riders around the world, via an internet connection, webcam, VOIP-enabled headsets, and brute strength. Groups choose a time and a course and go head-to-head in hardcore competition, with some courses comparable to Ironman Triathlon segments. The onboard computer also keeps track of each riders vital statistics (speed, pulse, distance, etc.) and has tons of other built in features. This fancy workout is priced at $3,500.

Article from CNET.

-posted by Stephanie

Last Tuesday evening, Bothell-based casual gaming company (and VOXUS client) Sandlot Games hosted a party at Club Venom in Seattle in conjunction with the Casual Gaming Association conference. In attendance were various members of press, gaming industry notables, and a woman dressed as Cake Mania's heroine Jill, complete with a freshly frosted cake and a robot-like walk. Cake Mania was the top casual game of 2006 and a major hit for Sandlot; at the party, Sandlot founder and CEO Daniel Bernstein gave the first glimpse of Cake Mania 2 (out in August) during a 10-minute run through of the game on Venom's huge projection screens. Needless to say, the party was a "treat" for all who attended.

-posted by Stephanie

It was recently announced that Konami Corp. has created a "Dream Skincare" game for the Nintendo DS handheld. The "game" allows players to enter in their body temperature and weight into a graph and answer questions about their skin quality. The result: advice on how to keep skin healthy, including diet and other helpful hints. The game game also includes videos of Chizu Saeki, a Japanese beauty expert, demonstrating facial massages and skin maintenance. "Dream Skincare" is set to go on sale in Japan in October for $37.

-posted by Stephanie