Wednesday, December 3, 2008

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BlitzTech Blog is back for December 2008

Hello folks, it's been a while since the latest post here, and I do apologize for such, but we seem to be back on track, although perhaps with not as much vigor as previous. However, with this tidbit of information, I should tell everyone that we may be moving this blog to another location (I don't mean WordPress, just that a different URL on blogger with a new name).
Before that time comes, we may not update as much as previously when we first started. Don't worry about our feeds as we'll take full care of it, as I'll frequently post updates on our movement.

Thank you to all our loyal readers.

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Saturday, October 11, 2008

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Reviews of Automotive Schools in the USA

Automotive jobs involving autos in the USA are projected to grow faster than other occupations, and finding the right school can be a difficult and time-consuming task but you may never get the right school for you.
It's a large field that is continually expanding, and sometimes education will play an enormous role in helping you to get the job that you want, in the auto sector.

If you want high quality automotive technology schools, then just click the link I provided you, and request information after choosing a school near you! This is a website that provides information to you when looking for a good school. They review and recommend the best and most comprehensive programs in the best schools related to whatever you want to work on.
For the Auto sector, there are many great job opportunities, but many require training. Get the tools you need now!
Just go to the website now, and find a school near you with the right kind of program for you.

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Tuesday, October 7, 2008

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RealDVD pulled temporarily by fed judge in MPAA lawsuit

Recently, RealNetwork's new RealDVD software was released, following an onslaught of legal problems about the software's ability to create a copy of DVDs for personal use. The Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) decided to sue them for allowing the burning of DVDs and circumventing the DVD protection, thus pirating the movie, and possibly allow further piracy by releasing it onto the web. They asked for a restraining order on the product to prevent RealNetworks from further selling it and stop the piracy that RealDVD could be causing.

In our coverage of the issue, we told you that RealDVD sued first, then MPAA sued back. MPAA had said

"RealNetworks' RealDVD should be called StealDVD," Greg Goeckner, executive vice president and general counsel for the MPAA, said in a statement. "RealNetworks knows its product violates the law and undermines the hard-won trust that has been growing between America's movie makers and the technology community."
While RealDVD had fought against them, claiming their product was not violating anything, and in fact added extra layers of Digital Rights Management to the copies made.

Now, a federal judge has asked RealNetworks to temporarily discontinue the distribution of their RealDVD product, at least until the next court session.

"We temporarily suspended distribution of the product until tomorrow," said Seattle-based RealNetworks' spokesman Ryan Luckin.
The MPAA said they were prohibited from commenting on the case.

Currently, the RealDVD product has been pulled from the website, and the link was removed, and it now says
"Rest assured, we will continue to work diligently to provide you with software that allows you to make a legal copy of your DVDs for your own use."

As I said earlier, piracy is a growing concern for the MPAA, because they fear that piracy will increase and becoming easier because customers will be able to illegally make copies of their content, and then keep a movie after they rent it by using a product such as RealDVD. Although this may or may not be the case, (RealNetworks says otherwise), piracy is definitely a major concern here. They are concerned that if RealDVD can win this case, and make it legal to make copies of DVDs on people's hard drives, then more products similar to RealDVD could be made, and causing a host of problems for the MPAA, and with piracy in general even in other industries.
RealDVD is saying that their case was preceeded by the case of DVD Copy Control Association v. Kaleidescape. The MPAA argues back that their software is merely getting around copyright protection.

It's still unclear who will win this case, but if RealNetworks can win it, then this could be an incredible step towards more free movie content and may affect other industries too. Undoubtedly, RealDVD could be exploited for purposes relating to piracy by experienced hackers.

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Search ad revenues still climbs, no sign of slowing down

With the latest financial problems at Wall Street and the credit crunch, one would really think the online advertising industry would start slowing down. However, this doesn't seem to be the case so far, but there is yet to come.
Here's a bit of what CNET said about it:

Despite an economic turndown, online advertising--and search in particular--is managing to keep its market intact, according to reports on Tuesday by an industry trade group and Wall Street analyst.

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, Internet advertising revenues rose 15.2 percent, to $11.5 billion during the first six months of the year, compared with the same period last year. And search advertising grabbed a larger piece of the share, accounting for 44 percent of the market--up 3 percentage points.

Search advertising generated nearly $5.1 billion during the first half of the year, up 24 percent from a year ago. Display advertising, meanwhile, also grew at a double-digit pace of 19 percent to $3.8 billion over the course of the first half of the year.

Internet ad revenues by ad format(Credit: Interactive Advertising Bureau)

But what about the third quarter and the market meltdown during the early days of the fourth quarter?

Two players in online advertising say conditions are remaining stable, according to a Tuesday report by JPMorgan analyst Imran Khan.

Search engine marketing (SEM) companies such as Didit and Reprise Media report that third-quarter search budgets were up, mainly due to a shift from more traditional marketing to search advertising.



Well, obviously the search advertising industry isn't going anywhere anytime soon. However, things could still change according to the way the economy is going right now. It's pretty foolish to think that the credit crunch will have no effect on the online advertising industry, because it will affect a lot of new companies, and even bigger companies, because they have to start going into the bunker mode, and one of the first places that they can start cutting is advertising.

True, there seems to be evidence that advertising is still yet climbing, but this could be due to the changes in search advertising itself, now including more industries, so as to gain revenue from a bigger source.

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Saturday, October 4, 2008

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Obama makes 6 Times more Spam than McCain, Palin also leads Biden

One must wonder during the elections, that who is really winning? Whether or not the spam levels of Seneator Barack Obama and Gov. Sarah Palin, is an indicator of that, it is definitely interesting.

A recent report at PC Magazine states that in a study by Secure Computing, Sen. Barack Obama (during september)"easily topped the use of his opponent, Sen. John McCain, by 6 to 1."
Gov. Sarah Palin on the other hand, won over her rival "Sen. Joe Biden, by a ratio of 5 to 4 during the month of September".
Obama and Palin then, obviously are winning the "spam debate", as they have much more spam than their rivals. This massive spam difference between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain, may be telling us who the the online world is talking about. (and who the spammers like most)

Apparently, the spam levels massively increased at the time of the Republican National Convention on Sept. 3.
Still, the spam itself doesn't really mean anything, and if anything, still uses as many provocative words and phrases as possible to get readers to click and open the source email.
And in the case of Sen. Obama,

"Though the spam message content itself is nonsensical, the basic themes of the Obama email content does tend to revolve around the shallow factors that are espoused in the mainstream media as central campaign issues: race, disputes with Clinton, messianic oratory, and FOX news smears," Secure Computing wrote. "The McCain spam subjects are equally driven by shallow media propaganda, revolving around age and wealth."
And in the online news world, PC Magazine says,

"By comparison, news stories citing Obama or McCain favored McCain, 10 to 9. Web sites mentioning Obama outrank those that cite McCain, 3 to 2. But the spam associated with Sarah Palin is closer to the news stories or Web sites mentioning Palin, both of which outstrip Biden citations by 7 to 2."
With all this spam, one wonders what might be coming next? Secure Computing says that this next month of October, could see the uprising of spam relating to either the banks which were "either were taken over or went under, such as Wachovia and Washington Mutual."
Oddly enough, there seems to also been an increase in spam that has no real meaning to it, or "gibberish spam", which could mean problems relating to the spam software, or something else.

Malware has also been spread in the form of a certain video about Sen. Obama. Be careful when receiving such messages, and it's best to just ignore them.
Spam is always changing, and it's going to change along with current events. Perhaps the level of spam is indicating to us what are the hot topics online, and what isn't being talked about a lot. It may not show what the election results will be, but it's definitely something interesting to know.

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New Investment Oppourtunities with Inner 8

With the recent economic issues and such, like the Wall Street Collapse and the credit crunch, many people are finding it hard to sustain themselves well.
What they need is to look at new opportunities to create income, and also a secure way of doing it, especially in light of problems in the financial sector at Wall Street. With the recent bailout plan by the U.S. Government, there is definitely hope with the economy going back up and strong, but we can't rely on it.

That's why I think Inner 8 is such a great opportunity to be seized! With Inner8, it's real easy to start an investment, but you can also rest assured that you have full control of your investment.
With many traditional investment techniques, the gurus (experts) are hailed as having complete knowledge of the sector, and you have to trust them. It's with Inner8 that "makes it easy to build your own smart, private, inner-circle of trusted investors powered by our new proprietary analytics. You get profitable investment ideas, demonstrate your own expertise and save a bundle on investment suggestions."

By using their service, you can learn, but also keep control with a private community made up of you, and other selected investors. All you need to do is sign up and create a network, and start getting valuable advice from the experts, so you can create highly informed decisions with your investments, without being bossed around by the "gurus". True investors have a broad understanding of investing, and can act on their own. So stop letting your broker do EVERYTHING for you, and start getting good advice instead.


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Incoming Updates Blog | BlitzTech Blog

Recently, we implemented many changes, including a new site policies page, and I have reason to believe that we might be adding many more policies to what we have on there so far. That's why I'm taking this opportunity to let you all know that I will change the format of it, so I can list each individual policy with a link to it, instead of listing all of it on the same page. This makes it look cleaner and easy to go through.

We also have changed certain aspects of the blog that are less noticeable such as the ---END OF POST--- beneath every post. It seems weird, but it's there to let you know that anything below it, is actually a part of the webpage's html and not inside the content of the posts.
We've also changes the site title and description, but I suspect it might undergo even more changes. I've encountered a problem with the subscribe via email widget at the top of the page, and I'm unsure of how it can be fixed. I will get back to this, as it isn't very important how it looks, as long as it's available.
In the future, I may also post certain information that is only available to feed readers and email subscribers.

That pretty much sums up what we've done so far, and I'll continue to post updates on our blog here. Stay tuned for our monthly huge update later this month!

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Friday, October 3, 2008

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Blog Journey - Increase Blog/Website Traffic with social Bookmarking websites Tip 1

As you may have recalled, I mentioned in our monthly update that we would be posting tips on blogging and my own blogging journey. This will be the first of those tips today, though these tips aren't in any specific order.

This particular tip is about traffic, or rather, how to get more traffic without SEOing your blog/website. The problem with SEO is that, many times it can be difficult for you to optimize your website, because there already are many other websites out there, competing directly with you. So how can you directly get exposure for your blog?

The key is using social bookmarking websites such as Digg, when you are first starting out. This is one of the main focuses of my traffic gaining attempts when I first created this blog. If you're just starting out, chances are, search engines won't pay much attention to you, and result in lower ranking on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). As previously stated, this can be very helpful to gaining traffic when you first begin to blog, but as you advance, you will have to use other techniques, or simply let your readers take over the bookmarking process.
Why are social bookmarking websites effective at getting traffic when you first begin? It's because they provide immediate blog/website exposure to gain potential traffic for your blog. You probably won't make the top of the lists in terms of popularity, but you can certainly be sure that you will receive traffic, as long as you make attractive titles, and provide good content. That is one of the first advantages of using such websites to help you. There are others, but I will talk about those later, so be sure to subscribe to our feed if you don't want to miss any!

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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

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Find Illinois Mortgage Brokers

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NDA dropped for iPhone developers

Apple has finally dropped the Non-disclosure agreement for developing apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. However, it only applies to released software, so developers currently developing apps will still have to follow NDA.
This is Apple's explanation of why they are dropping NDA:

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don't steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone's success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released

So it seems many problems have now been finally resolved by this, however, there is still more to do for Apple, as many developers want clear guidelines for their apps so they don't waste their time, and then get rejected. I still think Apple should make their unreleased software unrestricted by NDA as well, because that is the only way developers will get any help from the outside. Then again, Apple is based on having lots of control, so what can you do?

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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

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Find great internet webhosting services

Looking for great webhosting services? This is another website that will help you find great webhosting services online. In our world of technology, everyone needs or wants to make their own webpages online. The problem is, there aren't too many great web hosting servces out there, that will provide you with exactly what you need.
WebHostingRating will help you find great web hosting.
With lots of reviews, many ratings and more, it's easy to find the service that's just for you! Here at BlitzTech, we've stayed with Blogger.com, but if you blog like I do, then you're probably bound to find problems sooner or later! If you ever decide to switch to your own domain and your own server, then you need a good service to help you. The best technology, software, hardware and servers around, combined with the greatest customer support for that technology and software will make for little problems with your hosting service. For the best hardware, it can get expensive, but with this website, you can be sure to find the perfect combination for as low as possible, so you can spend your valuable money on other things!

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Piracy becoming legal? MPAA vs. RealDVD, MPAA sues back!

Hollywood has taken serious action on the part of movie makers against RealNetworks' RealDVD. The Motion Picture Association of America has decided to take RealNetworks' RealDVD software to the federal courts.

The MPAA wants a restraining order from the federal courts in order to stop the RealDVD softwware program from being sold. Why? It is because the RealDVD software from RealNetworks allows users to copy DVDs and store them on their computer hard drives.

When RealDVD was first released, the company claimed that it was completely legal and in no way violated Copyright laws, because of several things.
They were the first to start the fight, and decided to file a suit against all the major movie making studios and the DVD Copy Control Association. According to Real's press release, the lawsuit "asks the court to rule that RealNetworks Home Entertainment Inc.'s RealDVD software...fully complies with the DVD Copy Control Association's license agreement."

They are sitting on the fact that their software doesn't actually break any encrytion in the process of copying the DVD, and even adds an extra layer of digital rights management.

The MPAA filed a suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, claiming that "RealNetworks' RealDVD violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because its software illegally bypasses the copyright protection built into DVDs." They also ask for monetary damages and this is what they say about RealNetworks's RealDVD.

"RealNetworks' RealDVD should be called StealDVD," Greg Goeckner, executive vice president and general counsel for the MPAA, said in a statement. "RealNetworks knows its product violates the law and undermines the hard-won trust that has been growing between America's movie makers and the technology community."
While RealNetworks says their case was preceded by Kaleidescape's 2007 courtroom victory over the DVD Copy Control Association, the MPAA claim the two cases have nothing to do with each other. They fear people will be able to rip/burn/copy DVDs and keep them after renting by means of RealDVD. Thus, piracy will become far widespread and helped greatly by RealDVD. However, RealDVD doesn't believe this is the case.

"We are disappointed that the movie industry is following in the footsteps of the music industry and trying to shut down advances in technology rather than embracing changes that provide consumers with more value and flexibility for their purchases," RealNetworks said in a statement.

Will RealDVD win over the MPAA? Obviously, this is going to bring up a lot of questions about these kinds of software and exactly how far you can take "backups" and such. The questions relating to piracy are popping up everywhere, and it's not going to go away anytime soon. If RealNetworks' security methods are effective in stopping pirates, then maybe it would be okay for their RealDVD software to continue selling. However, it doesn't sound very effective at protecting DVDs from being illegally copied at all. I mean, how can you protect the DVD properly without having a guideline for the proper use of the stored copy? What kind of DRM could possibly justify the copying of a DVD? The only thing I could think of, is if the DVD had to be put in everytime, but then that makes the act of putting it on your computer useless. However, RealDVD allows up to 5 PCs to be able to play DVDs without the disc when authorized. Is this really giving protection, or just making piracy easier? It sounds pretty easy for somebody to illegally copy a rented DVD to their computer.

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Monday, September 29, 2008

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3 reasons why Wall Street problems will affect all including tech

Today: $700 billion bailout plan fails in the House of Representatives.
So many problems have come to attack the U.S. economy, and the government has failed to act to help Wall Street. However, Wall Street isn't the end of problems, because their problems and the credit crunch is going to seriously affect a lot of industries around.

It's something we really need to think about here, because much of the U.S. economy is based on credit, and with these massive problems plaguing Wall Street, obviously, that part of the economy will be affected.

Why and how will Wall Street problems affect other industries, and the technology sector?

1) The power of Wall street to drag everything else into their mess is enormous, because this is where much of the U.S. "credit" is. Banks are having a hard time getting money, and it's going to take down new companies, and companies that rely on loans for their business. They will be destroyed completely, and there's not much they can do about it either. Even large companies that rely on loans will suffer hugely.

2) Wall Street problems is causing a major shift in public perception of the markets everywhere. They are lowering investor confidence, and causing stocks to plummet. Not all companies have a massive amount of money just lying around to plow past this time of economic downturn. If investors lose their confidence, then many companies will see their chances of survival dwindle, or at least force them to stay dormant with little progress during this time.

3) Normal Americans will also suffer from this, if not remedied soon. We're talking major decreases in consumer confidence and consumer buying because of reason number 1. How much of American people use credit every single day to purchase items, or products or services? Almost all. How many rely on credit to help them with their everyday needs? You can probably answer that easily. The truth is, people need credit and they need to use it for spending! If people don't have the money to spend, we're just going to see a continued and drastic lowering of consumer buying trends. Think of what this does to companies! Companies need consumer business to survive. Regardless of what sector, they need consumers somewhere up or down the line.

How does Wall Street affect the tech sector? Just take a look at tech stocks and you'll see what's happening. Obviously tech isn't immune. It's just another sector where people are losing their confidence.
In the online advertising world, there may be serious problems with filling ad inventory, as less companies will be willing to spend a lot of money on advertising. It's not just the inventory either, as it is quite possible companies will be willing to pay less for displaying ads. They will all shift to the saving mode instead of expansion. Digg seems to have disregarded this altogether, but the fact remains, online advertising is far from immune.

The government really has to take action RIGHT NOW! It's really unfortunate that the bailout plan failed, and even Microsoft has asked Congress to re-vote on the matter. Something needs to be done if we want to avoid a cash freeze and other economic problems. This is just too important to be left alone.

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Webhosting Review website - webhostingeeks

Are you looking for a good webhosting service? Have you tried to find a service that is good, helpful, effective, little to no server problems, with high quality service? Well then, what you need is a list of the companies out there that will host your website for you.
But don't stop there, because why get a list, when you can also get high quality reviews that can tell you exactly how good a particular company is?

Web Hosting Geeks is one such service that will help you greatly when searching for good webhosting. If you own a blog like myself, and are tired of Blogger.com' issues and such, and want to move, then you definitely need to start hosting your own websites. Then, you need a website with a good background, and supporters. You can start with Web Hosting Geeks.
They provide quality reviews of many webhosting services out there, and even rank the top 10 hosters that don't cost outrageous prices.
On top of the great reviews by them, there are also user reviews so you can find out what people like you are saying about a particular hoster.

With all these reviews, and lists, you still need to find out more about web hosting if you're just beginning. And even if you're not, you can always find more information helpful. Web Hosting Geeks provides a lot of information about web hosting, so be sure to check out their service, if you are looking for a good web hoster!

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Site Policies

I've decided to implement a new site-wide policy list. This list is in no way complete, and so it will be added on to further. Each policy listed below will have information concerning specifically that policy.


**NEW**
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We use third-party advertising companies (such as Google) to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.

This website uses Google Adsense to serve ads.

  • Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on this site.
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1. Sponsored Posts
Yes, we do write sponsored posts on this blog, from various advertisers and with various 3rd party services such as PayPerPost. How can you tell if a post is sponsored? Well, usually it will have some sort of text written at the top of the post such as "The following post is sponsored". If not, you can also check the Labels. If it has NO label, then that means it is a sponsored post. Please check the labels if a post seems to conflict with other content on the blog or if a post seems suspiciously out of place and does not directly show in-post disclosure. NO LABELS = SPONSORED.
(Note: Certain posts without labels, I consider to be sponsored by myself, because it somehow advertises myself in a way that is not related directly to the blog.)

Now here is the actual Policy. It is important that you keep the above identification methods in mind when looking to see which posts are sponsored.

This blog is a personal blog maintained by myself only, and I accept compensated posts. This includes but is not limited to post advertising, reviews in posts, and other forms of posts that are sponsored by a 3rd party. This blog may contain overlapped or conflicting content, if advertised posts conflict in opinion with original posts.
This blog accepts many or all forms of compensation in return for advertising, reviews, posts, discussion, and any other form of advertising.
I will disclose any and all posts which are COMPLETELY Sponsored. If any post is only partially sponsored or if any single aspect of a post is sponsored, then it may not be disclosed. For example, If I write a blog post as usual, but include a sponsored mentioning, then that post will NOT be specifically disclosed as being sponsored.

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

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Why NBC's formula to fight piracy will change the Internet

In a world where almost all of us have heard of services like Youtube, Veoh, and such, there are many people trying to upload videos onto these online services illegally. For many years, companies have tried to combat the piracy problem, but it hasn't worked out well. However, NBC now has found a way to stop this, at least it's working for them.
Piracy was and still is a big problem. NBC is putting great efforts to discontinue piracy and their anti-piracy techniques seem to be working. How is it working? Take a look at when the olympics games were broadcast on MSNBC. At NBColympics.com and MSNBC, when the olympics were broadcast live, many people tried to upload videos to Youtube and other networks, but most people still went to NBColympics.com and MSNBC to watch the olympics online. This is because Youtube took off videos almost as soon as they went on.
NBC is clearly taking some big steps to team up with other organizations to stop piracy of videos. NBC partnered up with Youtube in order to get rid of copyrighted material as quickly as possible, and also worked with the Chinese during the olympics to stop the piracy of videos in Chinese video sharing sites. But it doens't stop there, because NBC is also promoting their own services as alternatives to piracy.

The heavily promoted their own site, as well as Hulu, so that these could be alternatives to watching videos on Youtube. Hulu became a place for viewers to find full length videos in higher quality than Youtube. By doing this with their own site and Hulu, they could make viewers stop going to Youtube for the video, and go redirect them to their own sites instead.


"Historically, there was a period where the conversation focused on the capability of technology to provide wondrous new access and wondrous new distribution," Cotton said Monday in an interview with CNET News. "In that old conversation technology's capability to define the rules of the road was dismissed, I would say by self-interested voices. But technology has an enormous amount to contribute in setting rules of the road."
It's obvious that things are now changing, and NBC has started to work with companies like Youtube, instead of against them. It's a much more effective approach.

"What people learned very quickly was what would stay up at YouTube were still photos of the (events at the Olympics)," Cotton added. "They could find photo galleries at YouTube and for video they went to NBCOlympics.com."

By this, we can see that viewers are finding good use for both services, and also in the right ways. Undoubtedly, as technology continues to advance, we will be seeing more of this in the future.
Why would these efforts be a big impact on the Internet and piracy? Because NBC is setting an example here, and it's a good one. The days of Youtube, Veoh, and other networks showing copyrighted material without authorization all the time are slowly disappearing. Many companies will likely to follow in NBC's lead, and battle piracy in this new way. There will always be people who will upload copyrighted video, but if enough copyright holders work together with services like Youtube, there will be significant change to us all.
Interestingly, Youtube is also going to make some Youtube only videos, but we'll see what comes of that. It's obvious that times are moving, and companies now see that an approach of suing Youtube like Viacom did may not be the best idea.

When you can't fight it, join it, and maybe it'll help you.

What do you think of this? Would you prefer to use services like NBC's own site and Hulu? Do you think video piracy will begin to stop? Give us your comments below.

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Saturday, September 20, 2008

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BlitzTech Update September 2008

Another month, another huge BlitzTech Update!
There's been an obviously massive update regarding the looks on our blog. We've implemented a new template that looks much more professional than the one we had before. The only thing though, is that some of you may have liked the previous template better. Although, I somewhat doubt that, as the previous template was not very good... Anyway, credit must be given where it is deserved: This new template was not created by myself, although I did edit it, and somebody before me edited it too. To find more info on this template, just go all the way to the bottom of the blog and you should see it.

What else has changed? Other than the overall layout of the blog, like positioning and such, there has been little else significant physical changes. You may notice we got rid of the pile of sharing links and replaced it with a nice simple sharing button from addthis. We also now have some google ads, which I am still experimenting with, thus it could move around a bit soon.

What other changes have occurred? Well, we are starting to do some sponsored blog posts here and there, but I will make sure those posts do not get labeled and all of them will say "The following post is sponsored" at the top of the post, or something similar.

As well, I am planning to use a new background with this template to increasing the "blitz" look of the blog.
That's it for now, and be sure to subscribe to our feed to get regularly updated. I apologize for not being very up to date with what's been going on in tech news lately, but that will be remedied shortly.

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Thursday, September 18, 2008

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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

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Magnetic Therapy Products from MagnoPulse LTD

The following post is sponsored.


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0

New Internet Explorer 8 Videos of features

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 came with a lot of new features and functions that were new and unique to their browser. Microsoft said before that speed was not their highest priority, unlike Google Chrome, where speed means everything. For Internet Explorer, they wanted to make it much easier for the user to use, and with all these new features, you really can't expect to master them all easily. However, the IE8 team put together a bunch of videos which can help to explain these new features.

Here's the link to them: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ie8videos.

Have you tried out Internet Explorer Beta 2? What did you think of it? There are lots of bugs in it, but their new features are definitely heating up the competition. Thanks you them, firefox had to add new privacy tools to match inPrivate browsing. Microsoft is taking a great step forward to making IE8 more user-friendly and keeping their customers happy. Although I don't see how their market share could possibly drop, it's obvious that this new browser will make web-browsing much easier for the ordinary folks who don't have the time or patience to install new browsers.

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0

Why Zune is starting to gain traction

Microsoft still has a long way to go, to catch up with Apple, or even SanDisk in the portable mp3 player market. Since their big update, there have been significant changes, but they still don't quite match up to the iPods. However, Microsoft's plan is a good one, and it can help them gain some significant market share over time.

There are 2 things that make Microsoft stand out, and is probably going to help them gain more market share.

1) Their new update was made available FREE to all existing Zune users. This means that they will build a lot of customer loyalty and expand their customer base. Unlike the way Apple does things, Microsoft has decided that they will approach this by not significantly upgrading the new Zunes, and instead adding new software features that will be fully compatible with the old Zunes. This was made possible because the original Zunes were made to be Wi-Fi capable, even though that wasn't very useful back then. Now that they have improved their Wi-Fi usage in their networking and new options for downloading/streaming music, all their Zunes can enjoy these features. It's always a hard decision when you are thinking of whether to leave behind the old users and bring new and better features to your device, or keep your existing customer happy by making the features available easily to them. Apple generally has left the customer int he dust by forcing them to get new devices for the new updates, or forcing them to pay extra for it. An example of this is with the release of the new iPod touches where you either have to get the devices, or pay $10 if you are currently using V 1.9. For Microsoft, they gain another advantage by making these new updates available to existing customers. Since many of their features involve using the network and sharing with other users, it makes sense that by expanding their customer base, they make these features better.

2) Subscription Music is something that Microsoft seems to stand alone with, although some might say that it is one that doesn't really help much. I find that with subscription music before, they were really limited in music options. However, this new update definitely improves that feature, by making it far easier for users to find music they like. There are now channels that users can use to find new music related to the genre, or that the Zune thinks they will like. These channels provide regular updates to keep up with the public tastes and new songs. It definitely can give users many more songs that they may never find otherwise. Along with the channels, there is also the Buy from FM feature that really adds to the potential of subsciptions. A study sponsored by Microsoft showed that radio stations still account for a large part of users finding new music. If Microsoft can expand their subscription music options further, or to make more music available through subscription music, then it can certainly attract many new customers and help to further improve their networks by bringing in more users and new music.

The Zune will not skyrocket in market share overnight, and even Microsoft said themselves that it would take years to seriously compete with the iPods. What Microsoft should be doing is use more of their resources to first overtake SanDisk and build up their customer base. If they can continue to make good decisions about whether to leave users behind or making updates available easily, then they will be well on the path to gaining more market share.

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

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Hector Kabande

The following post is sponsored.


Hector Kabande is a hotel executive with residences in both the US and Mexico. He is an expert in Mexican cooking and a specialist in the use of hot peppers. If you like Mexican foods, then can check out his website Hector Kabande. He is a distinguished cook that is famous for his spicy dishes. He currently serves on the board of directors for Grupo Lucerna.

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0

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed released, and George Lucas at the scene

The new game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, went on sale today at 12:01 AM in San Francisco. George Lucas also showed up as the special surprise guest. The event was held on Monday night at Best Buy at the city's Misson District, where many fans flocked to, to witness the release of the latest and possibly greatest Star Wars game ever made. It's also thought by many to be one of the biggest hits of the year. It's unclear whether the game will become a best-seller but the store was packed yesterday at the launch.

George Lucas made his appearance when he gave a 2 minute speech, and for many fans, that was certainly a special treat. Especially because he doesn't make many appearances. For this game, he considers it to be the first Star Wars game an actual chapter of the overall storyline that begins with the prequels, Clone wars, and then the original films.

The game's main character,played by actor Sam Witwer, is an apprentice of Darth Vader, following his quest to seek redemption.
Plus, there's two new technologies being used in the game: A new Artificial Intelligence called Euphoria which makes sure things will occur differently each time even when everything began the same way. The second is digital moecular matter which is for making things more realistic by detailing closely something likean object smashing into something else.

During the event, people were allowed inside the store until it closed. Before it closed, everyone was be given a ticket that would guarantee them a spot in the line-up to buy the game. Not too many tickets were given out, only about a quarter of what was available (1000, so about 250 were given out). This statistic doesn't show anything about the hype for the game, as a LucasArts spokesperson wrote to CNET that pre-orders were high.
The only really interesting parts may have been when Witwer talked about his life as a fanboy and his auditioning for the role, and when George Lucas gave an interesting statement, "This is the first example of what we've been able to accomplish by putting (Industrial Light and Magic) and (Force Unleashed developer) LucasArts in the same building in (San Francisco's) Presidio," Lucas said. "So it was a great collaboration between the two of them."

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Sunday, September 14, 2008

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EA drops hostile $2 billion takeover bid of Take-two

After seven months of attempting to take over Take-Two, the publisher of super-popular franchise Grand Theft Auto, EA has finally dropped the bid.

It started out with friendly offers of $25 per share, which then became $26 per share, and went back down to $25.74 per share. The bid became hostile after several rejections by Take-Two as being too low, until last month when they went into private discussion.

"After careful consideration, including a management presentation and review of other due diligence materials provided by Take-Two Interactive Software, EA has decided not to make a proposal to acquire Take-Two and has terminated discussions with Take-Two," EA said in a statement Sunday.

This is quite a bit late, considering their original deadline was some time in February. After many extensions of the deadline, it seems they've finally given up. GTA 4 had $500 million in sales in its first week, which was a quarter of what EA was offering. Plus, Take-Two had also signed an agreement with Universal pictures to have Bio-Shock turned into a movie when EA was offering. I think Take-Two can survive easily without EA, and the fact that they're remained resilient even now, shows that they're not just some pushover.

It was in August that the two companies held private talks, which was also when the FFC decided to investigate into a possible merger. They then said no further action was necessary.

To EA, $2 billion just isn't enough, and right now, Take-Two is looking at a lot of growth without EA's money. There's no real reason to let EA buy take-Two.

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0

Google new data anonymizing policy useless

After much concern on the part of the public regarding privacy issues with Google recording User logs, they "appear" to be listening. However, Internet security expert Chris Soghoian, writing on CNET showed that the move was doing nothing to further anonymity.

Jacques Barrot, the EU's justice and home affairs commissioner thought the move was a good one, but Chris Soghoian asked for more information from google. Google said they would cut down the 18-month anonymity process down to 9 months by removing the last 9 bits of data in an ip address, then after 18 months, they would delete cookie data along with change the last 3 digits of the ip Address. This means that google will not be removing cookie data after the inital 9 months, and only hide your ip address among 1 hundred or so ip addresses.

Soghoian is correct on this matter, seeing as if only the ip adress is removed without deleting cookie data, it is extremely easy for google to identify you. Furthermore, the process will simply continue itself once more, every time you use google for searching. Unless you delete the cookie data manually. What this means is that google can identify you easily regardless of what you do, because you're only hidden among 100 or so addresses even after 9 months, even if you delete the cookie yourself.

On another note, google also claimed they would only store 2% of data they get from google suggest (which we talked about earlier after the Chrome release). They would also anonymize that 2% of data after 24 hours. Unfortunately for them, I think the public already knows enough of google's tricks to not believe google will be anonymizing anything. Saying something like we will not keylog you 98% of the time, isn't going to work. How can we possibly trust google that they will anonymize the data if they continue to disregard concerns, and use tricks like these? The answer, is that we can't. Google needs to stop this immediately, or they might just lose all customer faith.

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Saturday, September 13, 2008

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3 Reasons why Spore (the game) + DRM = Recipe for disaster, and the truth behind the DRM

A little late on the scene here we are, but there is a reason for that. So far, there's been a lot of mixed opinions regarding the new game that EA released called spore. Long before its release, many people were talking about it, and were thinking how great it was going to be. And now, it seems a lot of people are disappointed in it as well, for many reasons, like DRM, which we will discuss below.

First, before we start discussing the potential and problems of spore, let's just catch up with the basics (you could skip ahead if you want).
There are 5 stages in the game, each one being different from the others. You start off as an insignificant creature of mere cells, with a pac-man similar play style. Then you go on to become a creature on the land, being able to fight or to make friends and customize your "character".
After that, you get a tribe, and much of the play is still the same, except now you manage a tribe instead of an individual. Up to here, it's pretty simple, with a lot of themes that you may find in RPGs (except for the first stage).
Then we move on to a civilization. It becomes more of an RTS game but simplified by a lot.
The final stage is in space. This stage is extremely large, as you get to explore entire planets, create new civilizations everywhere, and a whole lot more.

What are problems here?

Problem 1. Everything except the space stage is way too simplified and boring. And then the space stage is a little too busy.

Stage 1 = Super boring stage with almost nothing to do except engage in pac-man like play, until you move on to stage 2
Stage 2 = Less boring stage with more activities, choices, but a lot of predictable behavior on the part of the AI creatures. There's nothing moving about randomly either, and the stronger creatures are all far away, very unrealistic.
Stage 3 = This is the same as stage 2, except now you have a tribe.
Stage 4 = The most boring RTS of all time. You barely have to do anything here. Just keep sending vehicles to the enemy cities and you win.
Stage 5 = Suddenly, you have so much to do, that you'll be overwhelmed. Actually, it's not really THAT much, but just think of random alerts every few moments, you'll have to tend to all your civilizations' every needs, hostile attacks, getting spice to sell, and it's really just too much. A lot of this stuff should be automated. You have way too much to do in this stage, and you have nothing to do in the other stages. What the game needs is more balance. Up to here, all the stages have been extremely boring. This stage changes all that, and I suppose some people would think this stage is worth playing the other stages to get to. Many people would enjoy this stage because of the busyness.

Problem 2. Customizations do nothing for your creature.

Ok seriously, this game was supposed to make every person have a unique experience, and make everything customizable with a lot of choices to be made, that would affect the outcome of your creature. Yes, there's a whole lot of parts/customizations, but do absolutely nothing for your creature. You can only choose a very limited amount of parts because the rest of the parts don't have the stats that you need to continue moving on in the game. No matter how good something it looks, if it doesn't have the stats, it's pretty much useless. The customizations have no effect on your creature, as everything is determined by stats, and certain evolutionary choices you make, which causes everything to be very limited. A unique play? I don't think so. Innovative? Sure, with the creature editor and all, but if they don't do anything, why bother?

Problem 3. The big bad monster known as DRM.

The biggest issue right now (and I mean big as in 2000+ 1-star reviews on Amazon.com, and counting) with Spore, is DRM. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. There's nothing wrong with DRM in general, it's just that most people find this particular method of DRM in Spore to be very annoying and makes things a lot harder than it should be, when you're looking for a good game to play. So how is DRM implemented?

First, you have to register the game upon your first installation and you have to verify your registration and installations. All this must be done ONLINE! Which means you cannot install it offline, unless you get the pirated version. After you register your product, you only have 3 installations for that particular product key, until you have to call EA to get another one, while they treat you like thieves. Yes, I realize they said it was supposed to be 3 machines, but it's not. Every time you change your OS, upgrade it, upgrade hardware, get new graphics cards, anything, it counts as an installation. If your initial installed computer cannot run the game, then you just lost an installation. If you get a boot sector virus, there goes another. This isn't right. People don't pay to be harrased like this.
That's not it either, SecuRom, which is the DRM method EA uses for Spore (like they did with Mass Effect), is basically a virus that auto-installs itself without telling you, or getting your confirmation/agreement. There is no way of completely getting rid of SecuRom without wiping out your hard drive and reinstalling the OS.

Is this really necessary? Does it prevent hackers from hacking the game? Not at all. In fact, this has made many people turn to pirating simply to avoid the hassle. The pirated version still came out before the official release and it's even easier to find it for this game than many games without copyright management. Nobody wants to pay $50 to rent a game 3 times.
What's more interesting is that the DRM was not meant to stop hackers. Nobody officially said it, but it's almost undoubtedly true, that the DRM is in place to stop second-hand users from buying second hand. I'm sure EA knows they can't stop hackers. that's why they're trying to stop another "leak" of money. Many second hand buyers buy for much cheaper than the original price, and none of that money goes to EA. You see, the second hand market is very large as well. It may be on par with the amount of piraters out there. Think about it, why is there only 3 uses? Obviously, this prevents people from selling their game, because the buyer would no longer be able to install the game if the seller installed the game 3 times. The buyer would also not be able to ask for more installs because they wouldn't have proof of purchase.

No wonder the public hates EA. I would say Spore is not that bad of a game, because of the space level, and inovation involved in the game. It has a lot of good concepts, but it's too simplied on the lower levels. And unfortunately, it's a little late to be a great hit. With the DRM in place as well, the game was completely ruined. Maybe EA will learn in the future. Maybe they should stop harassing magazines and other companies to block hateful reviews. I have new respect for Amazon, showing that they care about their customers by not deleting the 1-star reviews from people who didn't buy the game because of DRM. We can only hope that EA learns to do the same and fixes the issue.

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Thursday, September 11, 2008

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Gates and Seinfeld 2nd ad out, but still no Microsoft

Today, the 2nd ad of Microsoft's ad campaign to rebuild the Windows image still abuzz once more, but there's still not much Microsoft! It was a two-part commercial, where Seinfeld and Gates move in with a family to connect with them. They are getting closer and closer to actually promoting Microsoft, but not quite there yet.

I would've expected this commercial to include something related to promoting Microsoft, instead of another opening campaign commercial. This commercial is probably one to increase the alrready high level of notice that people have for Microsoft in general. Perhaps they want to make sure everyone is ready for when the real commercials kick in.

So what exactly IS in the commercial? Well, Seinfeld and Gates are moved in to a normal family, try to connect with "real people". Then they manage to annoy the teen girl, by forcing her out of her room, and then they get set up to look as if they stole a family heirloom. Finally, they decide to leave, with Gates saying, "You're not so real." Then they walk off, and Gates does the robot dance. Right afterwards, there's a little bit about the PC. It says Perpetually Connecting, then PC, followed by the Windows icon.

So it seems they're getting into the product promotion stage, and starting off the image building process. Their plan? Microsoft spokesman Eric Hollreiser says, "It allows you to have a different kind of conversation after you've disarmed (the audience) a bit."
On the next commercial, there's got to be some more product promotion. Afterall, these commercials do cost a lot, and they need to start getting somewhere. If you'd like to watch a video of both the 1st and 2nd commercial, just head to the windows homepage.

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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

0

Apple brings back NBC Universal, at a price

Yesterday, the Apple event took place, and a part of it included the announcement that NBC Universal would be coming back to iTunes. But it comes at a price, and one that has finally been decided on after a year of negotiations.

It was in August 2007, that NBC pulled its shows from iTunes. They had some conflicts with Apple concerning the product pricing. NBC wanted more freedom with their prices, while Apple accused NBC of wanting to raise the price of their shows to $4.99 each from $1.00. To many Apple lovers, Steve Jobs was protecting them from high prices.
Apple, however, has given in to NBC's terms. Now NBC will be charging $0.99 for older titles, $1.99 for regulars, and $2.99 for HD shows. They can also offer special packaging prices. Ever since the separation a year ago, Apple has been slowly losing their grip on the pricing of video content on iTunes. Earlier this year, they had allowed more freedom for other companies' pricing of their shows.

It's probably better for Apple to at least have the shows on iTunes, even if they aren't very happy about the pricing. Unless iTunes becomes a huge retailer of video content, it's unlikely that Apple can convince companies like NBC Universal to agree to their own terms. For now, the re-addition of NBC's shows will be happy news for many iTunes users.

Apple had also not much selection for movies and films because they had always asked companies to accept a price lower than the DVD price. Apple simply refused to price anything over $14, but has now settled for just having the content on iTunes at all.

"Frankly, ever since we dropped our relationship with Apple last fall, they have made a gradual progression culminating in (Tuesday's announcement that NBC was returning to iTunes)," Perrette told CNET News. "Originally, Apple had no film content (from the major motion picture studios) on the service because they were asking the film studios for years to accept a price that was below their DVD price. Apple realized it wasn't worth the fight anymore and they were better off to just have the content. So they agreed to the pricing that was at least equal to the DVD pricing."
As for the new HD options, the higher prices will be mostly better for the companies providing the shows. That's "because the delivery costs are Apple's issues. We get the benefit of most of the price increase between $1.99 and $2.99," as stated by Perrette.

As aforementioned, iTunes will not be able to hold an iron grip on the prices of video content because they don't have enough of an influence on the market as of yet. That's why iTunes, being the biggest retailer of music with nearly 20% of all music sales in the U.S., can easily control the prices of the music it sells.

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Tuesday, September 9, 2008

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New iPods attacking the Zunes

It was only yesterday that Microsoft announced the release of their new Zunes. And now today, Apple announced the release of their new iPods.
Which is one is the better one? Well, there are upsides to both, and also downsides to both.

The pricing of the Zunes and the iPod nanos and classics are the same, so there will be no advantage there. Unfortunately for Microsoft, new features on the iPods such as the shake shuffling and voice recording are unique to the iPods. However, the Channels feature from Microsoft may be a bit better than the Genius feature.
With NBC coming back to Apple, and the addition of HD shows, the iPods leave the Zunes in the dust, as the zunes upgraded practically for video.

Microsoft still did not add the web browser features to the Zunes, so the iPod Touch is still in the lead here. But now that Zunes can download music with Wi-Fi connections, those looking for less expensive or less feature filled products can find a solid product in the Zune. But the iPod Touch is clearly the best option for a better and more feature filled experience. the iPod Touches also have much more and better games and apps, while the Zune only has 2 games.

But all is not lost here for Microsoft, as there still seem to be no subscription service to be offered by Apple. That means that the Zune subsciptions will be a big difference, allowing users to easily get whatever songs they want without having to keep buying every song, especially with the new Channels feature. Another thing is the Buy from FM feature that may be an easy way for music listeners to easily find and buy new music from using the 450+ radio stations.

I supposed the Zune is still probably better and rightly aimed at hard-core music listeners, but the iPod will appeal to a broader range of people, with more features that don't all have to do with music. If you're one of the people that'd like the cooler iPods and the better video service, then the iPod is probably your choice. But if you're some who loves to listen to music, and doesn't really care about other features, then maybe you'll like the Zunes better music focused features. There's no doubt that Zune could become bigger competition to the iPods in the future, but for now, iPod will probably win another battle.

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Record of the Apple event 2008

Today, September 9th, 2008, was the Apple music related Event, which was held at San Fransico at the Yerba Buena for the Performing Arts.
Now, here's is a FULL LIST of what happened during the event, in order.

Before the official start at 10:00 am (Pacific), there were performances by Rolling Stones, The Who, and Credence Clearwater Revival.
And then it starts, with Steve Jobs coming out, and says. "Before we do, I just wanted to mention this." He puts a line up on the presentation screen: "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

He starts off with iTunes, "We're very pleased to announce that we have 65 million user accounts on iTunes." Then he tells of new HDTV shows that can be bought with iTunes, costing $2.99 each, and can be viewed on computer or apple TV. Next, NBC is also coming back to iTunes (more on that later).

The new iTunes 8 is the big news, which improves accesibility, which was a big demand by many customers. There's also new browsing options and a feature called Genius. He goes into a demo of Genius, and Genius works by assembling playlists for you based on patterns which are tracked annonymously by a central server after you click on the Genius button and the results will update per week.
He continues to Demo iTunes 8, with all its new features of sorting and viewing in tiles, etc. iTunes 8 is now available as a free download.

Next up is the iPods. The classic is first, and now there's a 120 GB model to cost $249. Then there's the new iPod nanos, which combine, just like rumored, the sleek design of the older nanos, and the same display as the wider nanos from last year.
It's got taper edges, curved glass over the screen, the accelerometer and a new user interface. It's also the thinnest nano they've made yet. The new UI has Cover Flow, and the track listings from the iPhones and Touchs. Plus, now you can also tilt the nano on its side and the picture will go with it. Genius playlists can also be created without being connected to iTunes. Steve then demos the new nano features, including the feature to shake the device and shuffle the songs.
He talks about the different models, colors and pricing, plus the new headphones.

A new iPod Touch is coming out, thinner, with integrated volume control, the built-in speaker. It's also got the Genius feature and the App store. Steve then announces that over 100 million Apps have been downloaded from the App store since its release. Now he goes to demo the new iPod Touch, which are mostly the same. Then Phil Schiller (Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing) comes up, while Steve Exits, to demo 3 new games to be released for the touch: "Spore:Origins", "Real Soocer 2009", and "Need for Speed:Undercover".

There will be an 8GB, 16Gb, and 32GB model, from $229, $299, to $399. OS X 2.1 will also be released with these models. Users who paid for the 2.0 release will be given a free update. But people who have not upgraded to 2.0 will have to pay the $9.99. The update will also apply to the iPhone, which will fix many of the issues that people are talking about such as the reception.

Finally, Steve invites the special guest to come up on stage, and he is Jack Johnson, the best selling male artist of all time on iTunes. He plays 2 songs, and the event is over.

We will shortly have updates on some of the important announcements made at the event.

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Monday, September 8, 2008

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Google Partners with NBC Universal to sell TV ads

Google and NBC Universal will be partnering up to sell TV ad time, with Google acting as the broker for advertisers to reach NBC's cable networks.
The two companies said that the ads would focus on the channels Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth, and Chiller, with more that may be on the way. Google had already been in the TV ad business when it partnered with EchoStar communications.

They will continue to provide the service using adwords, and so the Ads will still be bought using a bid system. Google will also be providing up to second information on the Ads for advertisers.

"The Google TV Ads platform is making television advertising more accountable and measurable and we're pleased with our progress to date," Tim Armstrong, Google's president of Advertising and Commerce, said in a statement. "Our partnership with NBCU will help us bring the power of television to a broader set of advertisers as well as give our current advertisers increased reach through our system."

Google's partnership with Nielson will also allow advertisers to see how their ads are getting across to viewers. With the addition of NBCU, advertisers can now reach far more people and perhaps get better demographics information. It's possible that TV ads will become increasing dependent on the Internet, as it provides an excellent way of letting advertisers know how TV ads are reaching people, and who they are reaching, and what times/regions are the best.

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New Zune update with lots more features

Microsoft has released an announcement on the upcoming Zunes with a lot of new software features, and some hardware upgrades as well. They are still about the same shape and size, but now there's a 16GB flash model and a 120GB hard drive model.
What changes have taken place? Well, there's the two new games on it, but not much that's unrelated to music.
Now, there are a lot more new features that let users get more music and listen to music via channels. These new channels are regularly updated and could be provided by radio stations, microsoft, or even your Zune.
Along with the ability to buy songs using a Wi-fi connections, you can also subscribe to Microsoft's Zune pass which costs $15 a month to be able to stream music on the web. Unfortunately, there is still no browser in Zune, and the Wi-Fi features don't work with Wi-Fi connections that use a browser interrupter.

And then there's the new feature that lets users buy music from FM stations. Upon release, there will be over 450 stations available so that's a lot of choice. Big names like Clear Channel, Citadel and CBS will be providing their services and then you can mark down a song for later purchase with the Buy from FM feature.

It seems that Microsoft will have 1 day of being in the Spotlight before the Apple event starts, with the expected iPod updates and such. Some might say that the Zunes are more advanced in terms of music related features, but the Zunes simply don't have enough features for people who'd like to use it for some other things as well.

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0

Launch Week '08

This is Launch week '08 now and there's going to be over 100 new products/companies to be released. Unfortunately, that's WAY too much for us to cover here, and most of it isn't all that important anyway, but if you'd like, you can check out the Live Streaming of TechCrunch50 at TechCrunch, and you follow DemoFall + TechCrunch50 releases at Cnet, in the form of articles. As well, if some product that is very interesting gets released, we'll also post an update here.

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Sunday, September 7, 2008

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Silverlight Vs. Javascript - Chrome Vs. IE - Who will prevail?

The battle's on, the heat is burning up, and all eyes look to the onslaught before us. This could be one of the biggest browser battles of all time! Maybe bigger than the IE vs Netscape from years ago.
This time, it's also a battle between 2 different technologies: year-old Silverlight, and old Javascript.

With the coming of Google Chrome, Javascript has become a lot faster. Many people would say Javascript could become a serious competitor to Silverlight, and that's probably true. But in time, I'm sure Silverlight will win out. Although Javascript is becoming faster, that's because of browser speed. Silverlight isn't necessarily dependent on that. As Javascript and Silverlight are in two different languages, there may be a lot of compatibility issues with websites in the future. Most would think Javascript is more convenient as anyone can use it already. However, Silverlight already has a significant install base, as anyone who watched the oympics online using msnbc would have had to install Silverlight.
Javascript still lacks in many key aspects of the web world, and even though these aspects may soon emerge on Javascript, I think Silverlight will beat Javascript, simply because it's not restricted in the way that Javascript it.

As for the matter for Chrome vs IE, there's no doubt who will win. As I've already explained in previous posts, IE is just much better than Chrome, even if Chrome is much faster. Firefox is generally a much better browser than IE, and yet IE is still the clear victor. If you want to know why IE will probably win this browser battle too, then just check the earlier posts I made after Chrome was released, especially the one entitled "Why Google Chrome market share won't go up too high".

I would say more updates are coming, but I think there have been enough updates, and updates will only come if something very important comes up. As well, on Tuesday, we'll have coverage of the Apple event, so look forward to that.

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Friday, September 5, 2008

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Microsoft's hyped up ad is buzzing with nothing

What's up with the new ad that depicts Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld? It's barely related to Microsoft! So what is up with all this talk about it? Everyone seems to think the ad is useless. Well, I don't think so.

Think about it like this: Microsoft wanted everyone to start talking about their ads, to give it lots of attention, and maybe strengthen the brand name. Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld are both iconic figures of our society. I'm sure most people have AT LEAST seen or heard their names somewhere. Now we've got this combination of the genius who became the "corporate villain" and then uses the money to give back to society, and then we've got the Jerry Seinfeld persona.
Most people are probably thinking the ad was a complete failure, but it's actually going according to plan. Microsoft wanted to start conversations and make everyone talk about them. It looks like it's going the right way. The ad was probably a way to kick off their campaign, although even to me, it seems a little TOO much about nothing related to Microsoft.

Soon, with the next few ads and commercials, they will start to introduce their products, and try to make everyone think that their products are the standard and that you can trust them. I suspect that this strategy will cause a lot more anticipation and talk about the next few ads than if they started with an ad that was promoting their products. It's obviously something that people may want to pay more attention to, now that they feel as if Microsoft did it wrong the first time. We'll just have to see how it plays out, and it'll likely continue to be an effective marketing plan.
We'll post updates as soon as I can get them. Be sure to subscribe to our feed if you don't want to miss anything!

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0

Xbox 360 with a major price cut

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced they would slash the prices of their Xbox 360s, with the Xbox 360 Arcade version going down to $199! Now I know Wednesday was 2 days ago, but we were busy checking out Chrome, and so we're gonna talk about something a little different now, even if it's a little late.

So, why are they cutting prices? Well, they want to be more of a competitor against the Wii. You may or may not know this, but since the Wii was released, it sold more units than the Xbox 360, and Playstation 3 combined. Plus, the Xbox 360 was at the low end of the triple competition. You can guess than Microsoft would want to sell some more units as the holiday season comes along.
As well, the Xbox 360 will be priced at $299, and Xbox 360 elite going for $399.
But it's really not all about the price, although I'm sure the Xbox will sell more units now. However, Microsoft's gotta take into consideration the profitability of such. Most people probably bought the Wii because of the new innovation, so they will probably continue to buy the Wii. However, with these price cuts, people who don't have the budget for a Wii, can now get an Xbox 360, which isn't all that bad except it doesn't have the motion controller.

Would you buy an Xbox now because of the price cuts? Tell me what you think with a comment.

---END OF POST---
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

1

Google Chrome getting your private information

Google has always been somewhat ignorant on Privacy, and with their new browser, it won't be any different. With their search engine, all our searches are monitored and stored, but that really wasn't much of an invasion into your privacy. However, maybe this time, google's gone too far.

Sure, google said they would take back some of their terms, and they did, its just that, those that they took back weren't the real problems. According to Google, they will be storing 2% of the data that you enter into the browser address bar, and the search bars, also known as the Omnibox, which is used to returning relevant results before you search or type the whole address in, so that it makes it easier for you. However, google is going to track the terms and characters you type, even before you press enter or click the button. What does that mean? It means if you use the backspace key to erase what you wrote, or decide not to search after all, google will still know what you wanted to write, or at least what you already wrote. Along with the data that google plans to record, they will also be recording the Internet Protocol Address (IP address) of the individual computer that comes with it.
But this is only when you have the auto suggest feature turned on, but it's on by default. You can also avoid sending information by using the Incognito feature or changing the default search provider to other than google.

You've really got to think about what google is trying to do here. I supposed some people will just say that it's better to have this information with google than some other company, but I think it's wrong for any company to have such information. Maybe it would be less impacting if the IP address weren't also stored. Google needs to realize that some or most people want to be able to surf privately.

On a side note, it seems that google wants to compete against Microsoft's OS dominance by using a browser based system to replace the OS. However, this can't possibly happen for a long while. There are a lot of uses for a real OS, and there will be more to come. Just because most people seem to use the computer for the Internet, doesn't mean the OS is unimportant. Try to imagine doing everything you currently do on your computer, with a browser. Strange isn't it? Or maybe not so. After all, we have to use Windows Explorer to look for things. But the key thing here is that the OS does more than just that. A lot more. And if you pay attention to what you do with your computer on a regular basis, I'm sure you'll recognize that. So stop the talk about google being a huge threat to microsoft. Microsoft isn't idling either, you know. I agree that google is going to cause some changes, but it's not really going to cause a major shift in market share of browsers and the OS.

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