It’s always difficult to predict things, especially the future, and even more the future of the internet.

That was also my first thought when I read report from Pew Research Center, The future of the Internet III. The third report is just released and this one is based on a survey of, how the internet will be in 2020. They’ve asked 1,196 people.

If you feel like chewing through the 138 pages The future of the Internet III report you are more than welcome to.

If you are a bit lazy, I’ve collected the important conclusions below:

1. The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.
2. The transparency of people and organizations will increase, but that will not necessarily yield more personal integrity, social tolerance, or forgiveness.
3. Voice recognition and touch user-interfaces with the internet will be more prevalent and accepted by 2020.
4. Those working to enforce intellectual property law and copyright protection will remain in a continuing arms race, with the crackers who will find ways to copy and share content without payment.
5. The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.
6. Next-generation engineering of the network to improve the current internet architecture is more likely than an effort to rebuild the architecture from scratch.

The list is a strange combination of tech predictions and predictions of more sociological and political future scenarios.

Most discussions are often centered around tech predictions and seldom about future political scenarios. Is the technological progress also progress for mankind?

Those that have a cell phone and a laptop often works more and longer. You are always connected, so wouldn’t you fear that we would crash at some point if we keep this up?

Read paragraph #2 again please.

Will the technological progress in the next decade also create a better world when it comes to personal integrity, social tolerance and forgiveness?

What do you think?

The Internet Year 2020 – Do You Believe The Predictions? is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.

The theme I’m currently using on The Beta News is from WooThemes it’s called Fresh News. It’s probably the best theme I’ve ever owned and tried.

The support is great, it’s easy to set-up and customise and according to experts (Thank you Dan) it’s validated and everything is peachy.

This Halloween they had a sale, buy 1 theme and get 2 for free. Unfortunately I missed it, because I was on my way home from the States. Luckily WooTheme now have an even better offer. You can buy 1 theme and get 3 free themes.

It’s a $210 discount if you buy single licenses and $450 discount for developer licenses!

The offer runs from December 17 (midnight GMT) until December 24.

* Buy a Single License for $70 USD and get any 3 other themes (on Single Licenses) of your choice; or
* Buy a Developer License for $150 USD and get any 3 other themes (on Developer Licenses) of your choice.

It’s difficult to pick four themes, they are all so damn good, but I think I’ll buy Abstract, Busy Bee and Snapshot. I’m not sure, which one I should pick as the fourth one, but let me know if you have any ideas.

You can see the entire WordPress theme portfolio here.

(Disclaimer: This is not a paid post, I’m writing this because I honestly think this is a great offer. I am an affiliate though, so I’ll earn $14 if you decide to buy a theme)

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Do you miss Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special? Or perhaps The Smurf’s Christmas Special? Or Alf’s? How about the Cabbage Patch Kids commercials?

Fear not. You can see all the christmas specials from 1988 in the comfort of your own basement or you can get close to.

A BeTaMaXMaS does exactly that. You have three channels to choose from and if the reception isn’t good, you simply adjust the antennas.

Remember to check out the TV Guide too. Just like real television, there are commercials and programs all day. So if you want to see Married With Children Christmas Collection, tune in at 2:19 PM (I think it’s your local time even).

Have yourself a very betamaxmas and watch some classic christmas specials.

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YouTube has silently just “updated” the embedded videos with a very ugly search bar. It’s there until you click play and will reappear for a few seconds every your cursor is near the top of the video.

If you pause a video it will also reappear.

I know I know, this will help YouTube (Google) get even more user data and probably help them target ads even more.

To me it looks more like a piece of malware has infected my PC/Mac and added this terrible search bar to my videos.

YouTube please remove it or I’ll find another service to host my videos. (Yes, that quite a threat I know). Viddler, Vimeo, Blip and a few more are very interested in my many videos and they will give me a free T-shirt if I let them host my videos.

What do you think? Do you like the search bar?

Update: You can remove the search bar by adding this “&showsearch=0″ to the URL. Google Code has released this information concerning the search bar.

YouTube – What Is That Ugly Search Bar Doing In The Videos? is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.

Apple has just released iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod Touch firmware 2.2. The software update contains many of the much anticipated changes including Google Street View, public transit and walking directions, and over-the-air podcast downloads via the iTunes app.

The update also includes numerous fixes including added stability in Safari and fixes for Mail.

Several blogs (including Gizmodo and Macblogz) expected the tethering option to be feature as well. The release notes doesn’t mention it though, so I doubt it’s an option.

This is the official release notes:

iPhone 2.2 Software Update
This update contains many bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
• Enhancements to Maps
- Google Street View
- public transit and walking directions
- display address of dropped pins
- share location via email
• Enhancements to Mail
- resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching
of email
- improved formatting of wide HTML email
• Improved stability and performance of Safari
• Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes
application (over Wi-Fi and cellular network)
• Decrease in call set-up failures and call drops
• Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages
• Pressing the Home button from any Home screen takes
you to the first Home screen
• Preference to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard
Settings

Products compatible with this software update:
• iPhone
• iPhone 3G

The update also upgrades iPhone 3G’s modem firmware (baseband). According to iPhone Dev Team you should NOT upgrade your iPhone 3G to 2.2. This will remove the unlock on your iPhone.

If your iPhone or iPhone 3G is jailbreaked, you should seriously reconsider upgrading too. The upgrade will remove the jailbreak feature. If the jailbreak doesn’t matter to you, you can safely upgrade your 1st generation iPhone.

If you plan on using the soft unlock from iPhone Dev Team for iPhone 3G when it’s released in the very near future, don’t update either.

iPhone Firmware 2.2 Released – Jailbreakers Beware! is a post from Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. - Updated daily with the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.. Visit Connected Internet - tech, mobile and gaming news. for the latest news, tips, tweaks, social networking, wordpress tips & tweaks, windows optimization help and more.

Google has teamed up with LIFE Magazine to showcase millions of LIFE’s acrhived photos. There are photos from every decade from 1860 to 1970.

It’s a very impressive archive with many classic and some unpublished photos. They photos are also categorised, so if you are looking for pictures of the 1930s oil boom, Abraham Lincoln or thanksgiving, they are there.

Which photo is your favourite?

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It’s the season premiere of What’s On Your Computer aka. Show Me Your Desktop. I’ll continue with the akas’. Chris Pirillo aka L0ckergn0me will kick this season off.

You can’t write about Chris Pirillo without linking to a lot different sites. Chris and his wife Ponzi are the minds behind the increasingly popular technology conference Gnomedex.

Chris Pirillo is also behind the community called Geeks!, where geeks meet and discuss everything from Mac tutorials to recipes and L0ckergn0me Blog Network, where you can get your own blog and get paid.

I have a feeling that I forgot something…Ah yes…Chris live streams from his home every day, which has a very active chat. His YouTube channel features some of the tech reviews, advice or tips from the live stream.

Then, of course, there is also just Chris’ blog Chris Pirillo, which has everything from coupons and contests to discussions on FriendFeed.

What is your background picture?

Always changes based on:

http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/02/28/how-to-create-your-own-wallpapers-with-oxidizer/

http://chris.pirillo.com/category/wallpapers

Why did you chose that picture?

Well, it’s what came up – and what caught my eye.

You have both a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

Adium, Mail.app, Linkinus, Safari… on either / both.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

All of the above, but the one that’s most important to me is Mail.app (which is quite superior to Outlook with managing Internet mail and threads – considering I used Outlook for 10 years, you should take that statement seriously).

What is your favourite program and why?

Depends on what I need, honestly. My favorite program is always task sensitive – always. There are best of breeds, certainly (but no single favorite that stands out). If I were to call a “favorite”, it would actually be Mac OS X – and I know that it’s not perfect, but the collection of apps OOTB (the platform, the experience, the speed, etc.) make it more of a perfect storm than anything I had found with Windows to date.

As always you can read the rest of the interview with Chris Pirillo on The Beta News.

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It’s the International Talk Like a Pirate Day today. So if you are into pirate talk, this is the day for ye matey.

Of course all the major social media sites are jumping on the bandwagon including Facebook in pirate talk, select English (Pirate) and you can see how many of ye Mateys are on board or tell us “what ye arrrr doin’”.

Google isn’t holding back either. You can search ye’ olde webbe in pirate talk.

12 seconds is awarding every pirate talking video with a special pirate award and the FriendFeed logo has a nice pirate eye patch.

If you want to know how to pick up a pirate, then be sure to try out a few pirate talk pick-up lines. I tried a few of them on Michael Arrington from TechCrunch and apparently he isn’t really into pirate talk pick-up lines.

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Microsoft’s latest ads are hilarious! I admit they are a bit strange and really don’t have much of a story or message. It could remind you about a certain sitcom featuring a certain actor with a certain last name.

The $300 millon ad campaign features Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld as opposite to “Hi I’m Mac and I’m PC”.

There are no big sales pitches or statements, why Vista is better than MacOSX. It’s just an “ad-com” (Not sure if it’s a word, but I cleverly combined sitcom with advertisment).

To explain this pretty clever campaign in a popular way let me put it like this:

• Launch huge ad campaign featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld $300,000,000.00
• Start a buzz in the blogosphere including all tech major blogs PRICELESS!

I guess $300,000,000 could buy you a few 125×125 ad spots on a lot of blogs, but getting the exposure on YouTube, TechCrunch, TechMeme, The Inqusitr, Mashable, Engadget, The Beta News (!?) and a lot of other minor and major blogs can’t be put into value.

It’s almost like the ads are made for internet distribution. Why make a long and short version? There is nothing better, than bloggers who can’t figure something out.

We love to talk/write about stuff we just don’t get. It’s not keeping us from guessing though, and when/if we find the golden eggs, we’ll write a post more about it.

You can see the two ads here: (they are both in high quality)

This is the first one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz6amk3P-hY[/video]

This is the second:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBWPf1BWtkw[/video]

You can read the official press release from Microsoft here: Microsoft Kicks off new Windows Campaign with Star Power

Read all the other major blog’s coverage here:

• Tip for MS: Fire the Advertising Agency
• MSFT Ad is to PC/Mac Campaign as Zune is to iPod
• Bill Gates, Jerry Seinfeld ad airs – Apple has nothing to worry about
• Internet disses new Microsoft commercial
• New Microsoft Seinfeld-Gates ad campaign starts with a dud
• What’s the deal with this commercial? No, seriously.
• Microsoft Commercial Is Anything But Funny
• Microsoft Seinfeld Ad Not Exactly a Hit
• Bill Gates + Jerry Seinfeld = What?!!???
• Seinfeld-Gates TV commercial — vague, baffling and unfunny
• Seinfeld Vista ad is out, and it’s bizarre
• First Microsoft/Seinfeld Ad Bombs
• Seinfeld & Gates: Was this ad supposed to be funny?
• First Gates-Seinfeld ad leaves us scratching our heads
• I Don’t Care What You Say, I Love the Microsoft Ads
• Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld Commercial #2: I Remain Confused

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EA Sports’ latest press release has just confirmed that FIFA 09 will have the 250 previously mentioned changes.

The press release is followed by a few new FIFA Soccer 09 screen shots and four fact sheet which I will be releasing the next couple of days.

You can read the entire FIFA 09 press release here.

PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360 Feature More Than 250 Core Gameplay Enhancements That Deliver Most Responsive, Intelligent and Realistic Action Ever

GUILDFORD, UK. – July 1, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today revealed it has created platform specific experiences for its popular FIFA 09 football franchise from EA SPORTS™. FIFA 09 has been designed and customized to deliver a unique gameplay experience that takes advantage of the hardware specifications of each available platform— the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system, Wii™ home video game system, PC, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo DS™, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and mobile—when it is released worldwide this autumn.

“We have listened and responded to gamers and football fans around the world by building customized gameplay experiences for FIFA 09 on each platform,” said Andrew Wilson, Vice President & Executive Producer for the franchise. “Everyone wants to play a football game that is customized to their system and delivers a unique and enjoyable experience. We understand that and have innovated features, created new modes and designed controls that are tailored to each specific platform.”

With over 250 additions and enhancements to core gameplay, FIFA 09 on the PLAYSTATION 3 system and Xbox 360 deliver an authentic football simulation that enables you to customize the game to suit your style and ability. New animation technology creates more responsive first-time shooting and passing, faster and more controlled dribbling, and improved trapping. New player momentum physics, which exploits the power of these platform engines, delivers realistic player collisions, authentic jostling for the ball, and more variation in tackling.

“We listened to our consumers to make the changes that they wanted,” said David Rutter, Producer of FIFA 09 on the PLAYSTATION 3 system and Xbox 360. “No other game has over 250 feature changes and additions focused on improving core gameplay. We have an absolutely authentic recreation of the real sport through attention to detail.”

For the first time, go inside the game engine to customize the strategy and positioning of your teammates to decide exactly how your team will play in any situation. With new Custom Team Tactics you have all the tools to become a first-team coach. Adjust and customize tactical settings so CPU players and your team perform just like the real-world team plays and make strategic decisions to exploit your opponent’s weaknesses, all on-the-fly. The popular feature innovation Be A Pro has expanded to a career mode called Be A Pro: Seasons where you can choose or create a professional player and then develop his skills at a single outfield position over four years with the ultimate goal of becoming a national legend. The matchday experience is now true-to-life with a referee and linesmen on the pitch. Plus, crowds, stadium atmosphere and commentary have all been regionalized in exact detail.

On the Wii, enjoy FIFA 09 All-Play one of two ways—a Wii-specific take on the authentic ‘11 vs. 11’ simulation or over-the-top ‘8 vs. 8’ arcade action within a stylized environment with Mii™ versions of your favorite superstars, like Ronaldinho and Wayne Rooney. Refined motion and point-and-play controls make playing FIFA 09 All-Play even more intuitive and perfectly balanced for gamers of any ability to enjoy fun, football action. Choose to play the style that best suits your skills from advanced controls for experienced players to new EA SPORTS™ All-Play controls that enables novice players to focus on fun using simplified controls with AI assistance.

“You’ve never played football like this before,” said Kaz Makita, Line Producer of FIFA 09 All-Play. “Our new ‘8 vs. 8’ Footii Match enables you to play an exaggerated style of football where the personality of your Mii comes to life. You can play with your Mii characters against or alongside some of the biggest stars in a truly unique football experience tailored specifically for the Wii version of FIFA 09.”

FIFA 09 on PC now features leading-edge visuals that deliver graphics that exploit the power of hi-spec gaming PCs, as requested by PC gamers. Star players are featured in photorealistic quality with remodeled likenesses for ultra-realistic gameplay. FIFA 09 on PC also features customizable mouse gameplay controls that deliver deeper, more intuitive command over your squad. Plus, customizable widgets are now integrated into the menu system to connect you to the FIFA community and real-world football so you stay connected while playing FIFA 09.

“We are committed to investing and innovating to create a PC specific experience,” said Producer Paul Hossack. “Gamers want a gameplay experience exclusively for PC and FIFA 09 on PC delivers this.”

With 500 new animation sequences and all-new collision and shielding systems—representing the biggest innovations to the multiplatform EA SPORTS football engine in four years— FIFA 09 delivers more responsive, intelligent and realistic physical action on the PlayStation 2 system. The new collision detection system with 360 degree coverage enables players to behave according to their physical attributes where player speed, direction and strength determine everything from the severity of the collision to the outcome of possession. Changes to the animation system reward the skillful gamer during one-on-one situations between attackers and defenders. Tuned acceleration attributes enable swifter virtual players to possess quicker first steps and gain advantage in sprints. Plus, four new skill moves—scoop turns, rainbow flicks, heel-to-heel knocks and ball rolls—give you a total of 32 tricks in your arsenal to perform just like Ronaldinho.

FIFA 09 on the PSP system and Nintendo DS now include the innovative Be A Pro feature, including the unique Be A Pro camera that re-creates the rush and excitement of racing in on goal, designed exclusively for each system.

Additional major feature innovations for PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360 and PC will be revealed later this month and announced at the Leipzig Games Convention in August. Screenshots and product fact sheets can be downloaded at www.electronicarts.co.uk/press.

To learn more about specific features on each platform visit www.FIFA.ea.com.

FIFA 09, scheduled for worldwide release this autumn, is developed by EA Canada in Vancouver, B.C. It has not yet been rated by ESRB or PEGI.

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I’ve had this post in my head for quite some time. I’m not sure if it will work, but I have to get it out of my head. I tried stabbing my brain with Q-tips, but it doesn’t help anymore.

Statement: Blogging is just like a massively multi player online game, it could be World of Warcraft, Everquest 2, Eve Online or one of the many other MMOs out there.

That’s quite a bold statement some might say. Oh yeah? Allow me to explain.

I’ve played MMORPGs since Ultima Online back in 1997, I gave Everquest one a go after that, but Everquest 2 is where I’ve spent a lot of my time.

I co-founded one of the oldest guilds on the Highkeep server, it was called The Arcane Order. I was a guild leader for several years until I retired over a year ago.

With my MMO experience backing me up, I can safely make this comparison. Blogging is like playing a MMO.

I’ll start out with the Multiplayer Online part:

1. On every MMO server there are celebrities ie. the coolest guild, players with the best gear, the guilds that beat the toughest raids, the best crafter and so forth.
2. When one of these celebrity players say something in the global chat channel, everybody chimes in. Answer their questions, laugh at their jokes or join their groups.
3. The biggest player celebrities also have most followers. What you say in the chat is often true and people tend to follow what they say and talk about it.
4. The celebs are often also among the wealthiest people on the server.
5. They are often among the first to reach the highest level, complete difficult quests and try out new things.
6. They work really hard and spent most of their time in the game improving their skills.
7. They keep their friend’s list updated all the time, they network and form guilds. However most guilds doesn’t accept anyone. If you play a fighter and they need a wizard, you have to be damn good fighter to be invited.
8. Both husband and wife plays the game.
9. From time to time a player may get a little too cocky and get a warning from a gamemaster.

Now I think you can see what I’m getting at, but to make sure let me explain with a corresponding number of points.

1. In the blogsphere there are celebrities each in their own domain. The blogging experts, the coding experts, the monetizing experts and so forth.
2. When one of these experts or celebrities say something on their blog it creates a wave through a lot other blogs. The global chat channel can be their blog or twitter. They can ask any question on twitter and get at least 50 different answers.
3. If Robert Scoble decides that he prefers Kyte instead of Qik, then Qik might as well just sell their servers to Kyte. If Michael Arrington (TechCrunch) doesn’t like a new start-up, thats not a good start.
4. Shoemoney’s Adsense cheque picture made him famous, Darren Rowse makes a living out of blogging too and with the referral money he earns every day I’m sure he lives ok. Same goes for John Chow.
5. You’ll often see A-list blogger first movers on new services and applications. FriendFeed couldn’t have made it without the attention from Louis Gray.
6. You don’t become a pro-blogger over night. It takes a lot of work, research and not just the right gear.
7. What would the blogsphere be without networks? Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim, Mashable, b5-media, Gawker and many more. Aren’t they really a guild? You just can’t join them, you have to be invited and only if your blog meets the requirements.
8. Both husband and wife blogs, sometimes on the same blog.
9. The blogsphere doesn’t have any gamemaster or moderator (thank you for that), but it has some great people, who reminds it not to get too serious all the time. Loren Feldman is one of them. His satiric movies can really make your day.

Now there is one significant thing that sets the blogsphere apart from World of Warcraft or Everquest 2. On World of Warcraft the celebrity player can be a 13-year old kid, who has too much time on his hands and a big ego.

I haven’t seen many 13-year old kids making a living out of blogging…

So is my comparision too far fetched? Did I forget anything?

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As I promised yesterday here are is the second part of the FIFA 09 rumours. If only half of these are true, we are in for a real treat this year.

You can read the first part of FIFA 09 rumours here.

And remember FIFA 09 News is now live, but as always Connected Internet will have the most important FIFA 09 updates.

- Visible referee, linesman, staff and dugouts.

For the first time in the FIFA series referees, linesmen, subs
and ground staff are all visible. All have distinct animations such as subs warming up for their arrival.

- Weather options and pitch affects.

FIFA 09 now includes weather options such as rain and snow
which change conditions during the games progression. In addition the pitch is now affected and becomes more worn during wet matches and slide tackles.

- Increased number of teams and stadiums.

As the same during every release FIFA 09 will increase the number of licensed club and international teams as well as their official corresponding stadiums.

- Changes to Be A Pro and Manager Mode.

FIFA 09 will bring new changes to Be A Pro and Manager Mode such as camera angles and enhanced options.

- Enhanced online modes.

FIFA was the first football game to allow up to 5vs5 online and now this is taken up a gear with full 10vs10 online. Matches now have options for simple 1 player matches, 2vs2, 5vs5 and 10vs10 online games.

- Interactive Celebrations.

As seen in UEFA Euro 2008, interactive celebrations will be incorporated into FIFA 09.

- Greatly improved edit mode.

Edit mode has now been changed to incorporate a wealth of new options. FIFA 09 is set to become the ultimate football simulation. New previews will be released along with first screenshots by the end of June 2008.

-Improved Artificial Intelligence system.

AI systems have been recoded and act far more realistically. AI now take actions based on the score and change formation as appropriate. Attacking and defensive measures are used as well as risk assessment.

- Advanced tactics editor.
Attacking and defensive styles as well as changes to formation can now be changed on the fly. Risks can be chosen as well as new changes to set pieces.

- Less loading.

FIFA is now more streamlined and more efficient and as a result there is less pause and play due to the fewer loading screens.

So what do you think? Do you believe the rumours?

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FIFA 09 the latest installment of the top selling football franchise is being developed at EA Canada and is boasting over 251 improvements from FIFA 08.

There is no word on if the PC-version will be next-generation this time. I do think that Playstation 2 owners can be relieved.

EA Sports won’t forget you.

Following up last year’s huge success, I’ve launched FIFA 09 News with news straight from EA Sports’ own press room, screenshots, game demos and more.

Here are the latest rumours circulating about the game:

-Improved physics system.

FIFA 09 has an improved physics system which affects both players and the football itself allowing for beautiful, powerful and devastating shots and unprecedented levels of realism
during a match.

- Improved animation system.

The brilliant animation system seen in FIFA 08 is improved upon to include hundreds of new animations for players that further add to the simulation feel of the game.

- New player faces.

3D player modeling is vastly improved and now offers unbelievable similarities to the real life counterparts.

- Increased response times and game speed.

Player response times have been increased to increase the flow of the game as in real life, while game speed has been tweaked from FIFA 08.

-Improved graphics, lighting, textures and crowd.

Overall graphics have been improved upon once again. Lighting changes in real-time depending on the time of the match. Crowds in the stadium have been redeveloped for the new entry.

- Player height and weight.

Player weight and height plays a crucial role in aspects such as aerial challenging and strength on the ground.

More details will be posted here tomorrow.

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Warning:*This post may contain spoilers!*

As the picture shows Apple has done it again. They’ve just announced it at the WWDC08 in San Francisco. I know that because I’m liveblogging from the PWAAWWDC08 (People Who Aren’t Attending WWDC08 aka. my living room).

They’ve taken *insert common gadget name here* reinvented and redesigned it. All I can say is: The new Apple i*insert Apple gadget name here* is freakin’ awesome!!!

I can wait to get my hands on the i*insert Apple gadget name here*!

According to Steve Jobs the suggested retail price will be $5.499 which is pretty cheap for a i*insert Apple gadget name here*.

I know a lot of students will have to get one. Most bloggers will get one for free. They need something to attach the schwag to.

Again thank you very much Steve Jobs. The Apple i*insert Apple gadget name here* is awesome. I can’t believe you guys have done it again.

I can’t wait until you release the SDK in a year so the business people can get one too and actually use it.

Remember you read it on Connected Internet first!

UPDATE: Some of my readers have pointed out that I’ve forgotten to put in the name of the new iSomething. I’m terribly sorry about that.

UPDATE 2: More readers have pointed out that my big head is hiding the actual new Apple thingy. Again I apologies.

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It’s no surprise that twitter can be a bit unstable from time to time. Twitter is probably the only service I know that’s almost more down than it’s up, and still have a loyal fan base and increase it’s number of users.

But what are the alternatives?

There are a lot of similar micro-blogging services out there, but can they replace twitter?

If you take a look at the various alternatives to twitter are they really an alternative?

Pownce:

About a year ago I wrote a post about Pownce and twitter. I compare the two services, but what really hit me was, that a year ago I wrote that twitter is unstable.

Twitter is still unstable and Pownce hasn’t replaced twitter. Why is that?

Pownce doesn’t have the simplicity of twitter. No one (except a few) has really bothered making any services for Pownce either and perhaps Pownce is just too feature-heavy?!

As always you are welcome to friend me on Pownce.

Plurk:

The brand new microblogging tool is called Plurk and everybody are talking/blogging about it. It’s probably the closest thing at the moment to twitter.

The timeline is very different and takes a little getting-used-to. However when some of your friends plurk, you can respond directly to their plurks by just clicking on it.

Plurk has a clever little extra thing that might be addicting to some users. It’s called Karma. It’s a score and the more you plurk, respong to plurks and add friends, the more Karma you get.

All the big blogger people are plurking. If they like it might breakthrough. Perhaps they should have waited and launched Plurk at some big blogger conference. That’s what twitter and Friendfeed did.

Add me as a friend on Plurk.

Some might also see Friendfeed as an alternative to twitter, but honestly I haven’t really jumped on the Friendfeed bandwagon yet.

I’m still not sure what to do with Friendfeed, but I would love to know, so if you have any advice or ideas, please don’t hesitate to share.

Which tool do you see as an alternative to twitter? Will you stick with twitter or move to another microblogging service?

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With Starcraft 2 announced last year, the anticipation for Starcraft 2 is increasing every day. No one knows when the game will be released yet though.

So while we wait for Starcraft 2, fans of Starcraft are busy creating videos, trailers and blogs about the next version. One fan however went the opposite way.

“Luckyfool” has created this video called “Starcraft 7 years in 7 minutes.. a history of patches”. Personally it was a great flashback. I was amazed by the graphics back then, but looking at it now…

The screen shots from Starcraft 2 looks very promising, but I’ll show you those in a later post. First enjoy a trip down memory lane.

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As you might have read, I’m on a quest for either a MacBook or a PC. The comments in the latest post clearly shows that the battle between Apple and Microsoft – or OS X and Windows – is very easy to spot.

Which one offers the most value? Since both the MacBooks (Pro) or generic PC have the same hardware specifications, it all comes down to the operating system.

The noble art of OS-bashing goes on…

After reading many blogs about people who has switched from Windows to Mac (so called switchers), I see a pattern, that most switchers follow.

The blogger is very often a very loyal Windows “follower”. To the surprise of the blogger, he/she learns from friends and relatives, that they actually love this OS X-stuff.

Fundamental differences

Ok then now the blogger has bought a Mac and he describes the differences between the two operating systems. Somebody has moved the “Close-button” from right to left. Then they realise that a program isn’t just shut down in OS X.

After a couple of weeks most switchers are getting the hang of it and they seem to be rather fascinated about the new OS.

A sense of joy, you only get from a few brands, seems to characterize a lot of Mac people.

Of course, everything isn’t a dance on roses. There are also stories about the total opposite experience, but not many.

It’s like many Mac owners, new and old, have a new look on life and they almost feel sorry for PC users. They haven’t seen the light.

From a PC owners point of view, this state of mind is often seen as arrogant and fanatic. Some Mac owners are used to the accusation of being a part of a cult. If a happy owner is a cultist, then perhaps that’s true.

THE Brand

The joy of owning a Mac is very visible at the 2008 edition of Brandchannel’s annual brandjunkie survey, where almost 2,000 marketing people are asked about different brands. The survey is not about ranking the brands, but about values like, “who would you site next to at a dinner party?”

The result is a certain victory for Apple with six top positions and one second. Microsoft got two top placements and one second.

14.6% of the questioned people would rather sit next to Apple at the dinner party, while 4.1% would prefer Virgin. It seems that people identify the companies with the figureheads and prefer Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.

Another interesting question is:”If a brand was sent 100 years back in time, how would they influence history?”. Again Apple wins by 15.5%, while Microsoft come in second with 10.4%. I’m not sure that I agree with that.

They would have a lot to say about world events, business and what is likely to happen in the future. They could also be quite good fun and have a different view of the world. A good combination of work and non-work conversation.

The first victory to Microsoft could be a sour apple (pun intended). 6% would rather discuss matters with Microsoft. Apple come in second with 4%. I wonder what they would discuss with Microsoft.

Very Inspiring

Apparently Apple inspires people. 22% of the voters say that Apple is the most inspirational brand. Nike comes in second with 6%.

Microsoft isn’t among the top 10 brands.

So has this small analysis taken me closer to a decision? Should I be a part of the Cupertino cult and be another victim in a cynic strategy?

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Did you remember to read last week’s interview with Shoemoney? This season’s last interview is with Fake Steve Jobs.

Most people know Steve Jobs (creator of the iPhone), but not everybody read Steve Job’s secret blog/diary.

Some say it’s not written by Steve Jobs himself, but by Fake Steve Jobs. Some even say that Fake Steve Jobs actually is Forbes senior editor Dan Lyons.

Fake Steve Jobs aka. FSJ has nicknames for many things. Microsoft is The Borg, people who work at Microsoft are Borgtards, twitterers are twittertards, WSJ tech-journalist Walt Mossberg is Goatberg and Sarah Lacy is hot.

FSJ writes why Apple is so cool, and why Apple’s products are so damn innovative and awesome. He finds most people annoying and is upset by negative people.

FSJ like turtlenecks, black, white, trees, zen and is a benevolent dictator.

And now the interview with the great Fake Steve Jobs <applause>

What is your background picture?

Solid blue.

Why did you chose that picture?

I’m boring. And easily distracted. Solid color lets me focus on what I’m doing.

This is the season finale (I always wanted to say that) of Show Me Your Desktop, but unlike certain other “shows”, I don’t cancel something, just because people don’t watch it. (Take that Fox, CBS, ABC and SciFi).

Season 3 will be back very soon with brand-new questions and more interesting people.

Read the rest of the interview with Fake Steve Jobs on The Beta News. The interview also features a video of FSJ.

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As many of my twitter followers probably are aware of I’m currently working on getting my hands on a MacBook Pro or just a MacBook. I just can’t make up my mind.

I’ve been a happy Windows-user for many years. Way back when you typed Windows in DOS to start Windows 3.11 for Workgroups.

But I haven’t really gotten over the disappointment of Windows Vista. A year ago I “leased” big HP Notebook with 17″ screen and Windows Vista Home Premium, but it was so dang slow.

When I started my new job a few months ago I had to return the HP Notebook to my previous employee. (It’s tax/employee benefit-thing). I’ve been without a laptop since April 1st. I have a company one, but I’m not using that one for private stuff.

Instead of buying a new Dell XPS something, I decided that I wanted a MacBook Pro. A quick trip to Apple.com/store quickly gave me a price indication – $2,499 for a MacBook Pro. Ok, I can live with that.

How much does it cost in Denmark then? Dkr. 17,299 or $3,460! I can buy a return-trip to New York, buy a MacBook Pro and still save money compared to the Danish price.

Of course, if I get busted in customs, the saving is gone, but I can fly out of Hamburg (Germany) and avoid customs that way.

Why would I want a MacBook? As I mentioned Windows Vista has been quite the disappointment, but another my interview series “Show Me Your Desktop” has had a huge influence on the decision too.

It’s a part of my world domination problogger plan too.

So where am I going with this? Well initially this was meant as an intro to my Apple Mac research post, but the intro has become so long, that I’ll write that in a second post. Therefore this is called “My Quest For The Apple Part 1″.

In Part Deux I’ll write about how strong a brand Apple really is and why people become “switchers”.

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Unfortunately Lisa Brewster didn’t make it into the Mahalo VLOG Idol final, her interview is still here though.

This week it’s Jeremy Schoemaker aka. ShoeMoney’s turn to show us his desktop. It’s almost impossible to describe Shoemoney in a few lines. I’m still going to do it though.

Regular readers of Shoemoney.com know that he lost 240 lbs in 15 months, never read an entire book and that he became famous for his $132,994.97 Adsense check.

ShoeMoney is known for his posts about affiliate marketing, CPC, PPC, CPM-stuff (and other 3 letter terms) and see new schwag T-shirts.

ShoeMoney co-founded AuctionAds (now ShoppingAds, check this blog’s right upper corner) and sold it to MediaWhiz.

The very successful and exclusive Elite Retreat, which brings the best entrepreneurs in SEO, SEM and internet marketing together, is also co-founded by ShoeMoney.

He also runs ShoeMoney Media Group and hosts the weekly podcast “The ShoeMoney Show” on Webmasterradio.fm.

As always when ShoeMoney is involved it’s brief and honest. The same goes for this interview.

A few days after I mailed ShoeMoney the questions, he posted this How To Get That Interview.

What is your background picture?

Its the factory one that comes with Macosx

Why did you chose that picture?

I just never really get into background pictures.

As usual you can read the rest of the interview with Jeremy Schoemaker aka. ShoeMoney on The Beta News.

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You’ve probably heard about EA’s latest RPG “Mass Effect” for Xbox360, but did you know it’s coming out for PC very soon too?

Ok, but did you also know that you’ll need to activate the game in order to play it? Oh yes, Mass Effect (PC version) is using SecuROM, which requires online activation.

But it doesn’t stop here, 10 days after the first activation, SecuROM requires that it re-check the CD-key. If the key isn’t private, the game stops working. It does this every 10 calendar days.

This is what I found on the official EA Games Mass Effect forum:

SecuROM is the copy protection and security program included in Mass Effect PC.

Mass Effect PC uses SecuROM which requires an online activation for the first time you play Mass Effect PC after installation. After the first activation, SecuROM requires that it re-check with the server within ten days in order to revalidate the CD key. If it can’t contact the server before the 10 days are up, the game still runs and it will re-check until it is successful. If the check is not successfully performed within the 10 day period, Mass Effect will not run until an online check is successful.

Each copy of Mass Effect comes with a CD Key which is used for the SecuROM activation and for registration here at the BioWare Community.
SecuROM does not require the Mass Effect DVD to be in the drive in order to play, it is only for installation.

So the good news are, you don’t need the DVD in the drive to play…

This can be understood in two ways – EA Games thinks everyone’s a pirate or… ehmm…I don’t know, you tell me.

Will the SecuROM anti-piracy protection be standard in future EA games? Will FIFA 09 need activation every 10th day?

The 95+ pages on the Mass Effect forum discussing this indicates, that most gamers aren’t happy about this.

What do you think? Are we all pirates and EA Games should use SecuROM and activation on all games?

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The toy company Lego is working intensely on a multiplayer online game or MMO. The game is launched in 2009. Children all over the world can now play with Lego bricks across boundaries.

The game is called Lego Universe and it’s said to be part World of Warcraft and part playing with toys. Virtual Lego bricks here we come.

You control a classic Lego figure, your avatar, that develops his or her skills as you play.

Lego Universe is built like a just like a classic MMO with missions, that earns you money and bricks, but the social and creative part of the game is what drives it forward. You will be rewarded extra for solving missions creatively.

The target group is boys from ages 8 to 12, but Lego is hoping on users from all ages.

Lego currently have 90 people working on the Universe project. The game is developed by Denver-based Netdevil.

30 children are testing missions, features and functions every week.

Black Digits

Since Lego’s missteps a few years ago, the company is now back on track and making money again. The recent drop in Second Life’s popularity isn’t scaring Lego. They have a strong brand and hope that the game’s creative angle will make them some money.

Since the Lego brand will be all over the game, we can expect quality, but probably also an expensive video game.

Targeting The Parents

If Lego wants to succeed, this has to be a quality game with great gameplay, sound and graphics. It should be launched around Christmas and they must market the game correctly. Previous Multiplayer Online Games show that quality isn’t enough, if you want to succeed.

There is no doubt that Lego will target their marketing campaign toward the parents. They (we) are the “gatekeepers” and decide what game our children can play, which online community they are allowed to visit and we pay the bills.

Lego is a very trusted brand, but can they convert this to an online game? Lego isn’t very experienced in the online world.

Do you think Lego Universe will be a success? Why or why not?

Click here to read more about Lego Universe.

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According to several rumours Google are working on a new huge 3D map project. This time Google will take us below the surface of the ocean.

First we saw our own world with Google Earth.

Then we were invited out into space with Google Sky.

And now we are back on our blue planet only to go Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, (well maybe not exactly, but it sounds cool) with Google Ocean.

You can’t dive into the digital sea yet, but according to cnet.com, Google invited several marine-experts to Googleplex last December, to discuss the plans for a 3D ocean map.

The map, with the codename Google Ocean, will allow you to see details and special “sights” of the bottom of the sea.

According to the project, you can zoom in or search for specific locations, like the Mariana Trench or the Caspian Sea.

No Comments From Google

Google are sealed tight as an oyster and according to a Google spokewoman “they have nothing to announce right now” about the project.

Several marine biologists and researchers are very excited about the project. A 3D map of the undersea will make exploration of the ocean and the bottom more efficient.

100 Ships 100 Years

Basically Google Ocean will tell you how deep an ocean location is, but selected areas will have high-resolution images.

Later on you’ll hopefully be able to add extensive information like weather patterns, temperatures and local current. Besides that you can also use Google Ocean to look for shipwrecks and coral reefs.

Until now only a small percentage of the oceans are mapped with the use of sonar. Experts say that it will take a 100 ships several years to map the entire undersea world.

What’s your take on Google Ocean? Is it a storm in a glass of water or actually something useful?

Source: Cnet.com

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Blogs and forums are already aflame over Grand Theft Auto IV freezing during or after the opening cutscene. According to several rumours this happens on both Playstation3 and Xbox360, but not to every gamer.

Rockstar hasn’t officially confirmed the problem and there is no fix released yet.

Most of the crashes happens on Playstation3s with 60 Gb hard drive, though several Xbox360 owners have the same problem.

The 9+ pages on the Playstation Forums recommend that Playstation3 owners delete the game data from the harddrive and then reinstall the game, but according to Rockstar support, this isn’t a guarenteed solution.

They also recommend that you run the latest firmware and have space on your harddrive.

This is probably the worst launch for Rockstar ever. The Xbox360 version of Rockstar’s Bully released last month was also severely bugged. I wonder how the GTA IV reviewers and game testers could have missed this?

Did it happen to you? Or are you waiting for an update before you buy Grand Theft Auto IV? Perhaps this has scared you away from GTA IV?

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If you missed Larissa Meek’s interview last week, make sure you head over there and read it. This week it’s Lisa Brewster’s turn to show me her desktop.

Lisa Brewster aka. Adora calls herself “just some girl on the internet”, but if you ask me, she is on her way to being much more than that.

Lisa is taking part in Mahalo’s VLOGIdol. She is one of the finalists and could be the host on Mahalo Daily. If you want to support Lisa, which I’ll encourage you to do, join her Facebook Fan group, send her a SASE and get a free “I want Lisa to host Mahalo Daily” sticker and give her your support here.

It’s a tough competition with a lot of talented women with both beauty and “geeky”.

Lisa is the product manager for StartUp Schwag. The Web 2.0 schwag club. Once per month they will send you a bag with schwag, usually a t-shirt and some stickers. I’d love to become a member, but it’s $25 every month because I live in Denmark. US-residents get it a lot cheaper.

If you want to learn more about Lisa and her many projects, I suggest you visit Sophistechate.com, Lisa Brewster Photography and Technarium.com.

And now for the interview:

What is your background picture?
http://www.skinbase.org/rate.php?skins=40303

Why did you chose that picture?

I’ve always been a fan of basic black, but when I got my Thinkpad I wanted something warmer and slightly feminine. My work computer, however, has a picture of a neurotic kitten wielding a chainsaw.

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

According to Wakoopa, I mostly use Firefox and Photoshop. I recently switched from Miranda IM to Trillian Astra, so chatting in general deserves a higher ranking than what it currently has.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

Outlook and VMware Server.

Internet Explorer or Firefox?

Firefox, of course.

As always you can read the rest of the interview with Lisa Brewster on The Beta News. Lisa has some great tips for Firefox plugins, you can’t live without and she’ll tell you, why she uses a PC.

Thank you very much for the help and best of luck with Mahalo VLOGIdol, Lisa! You can always send a sticker and Mahalo greetings to Denmark

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I was pleasantly surprised to see The Beta News mentioned on MoMB, Museum of Modern Betas a few days ago. I’ve always been a big fan of MoMB and the work Saurier Duval puts into it.

If you are into twitter, you should check out MoMB’s top 100 popular twitter sites. Remember you can follow me on twitter.

My luck doesn’t end here though. I was even more surprised to see The Beta News mentioned on KillerStartups.com. I’m very proud of the small “review” they gave me.

This Danish born blog has some interesting tidbits. The stories aren’t framed in boring techspeak—they are accessible and conversational. The blog has an easy to navigate design, it’s neither too text or photo heavy. It also has good stories—worth a read if you’re into tech.

Thank you, thank you /bow.

They do have a couple of questions

There are a lot of tech related blogs out there. How is this one going to draw in more users?
Will it offer more user interactive features such as commenting or even ratings?

Commenting – check. You can comment on The Beta News. Did the reviewer click on one of the posts?

Ratings – Interesting idea. Will it add value to The Beta News?

Again I’m very flattered that MoMB and KillerStartups added The Beta News to their pages. I’m a huge fan of both sites and, of course, they are in my feed reader.

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Applications for the Apple iPhone aren’t taking up the internet bandwidth and space. Actually only one company have developed an VoIP (Voice over IP) application, the Israelian company fring.

If you haven’t heard about fring, then perhaps you know one of the people behind it – Avi Schechter. He was one of the founder of the once very popular chat-program ICQ. I still remember my ICQ number 7914159, which was stolen by a hacker some time ago.

The idea behind fring is free access to your favourite instant messaging service like Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk or AIM. You can also connect to your Skype contacts and use twitter.

It requires some kind of high-speed connection. That can be either 3G, Wi-Fi or GPRS. I wouldn’t recommend the latter though.

Since you often will use 3G (or GPRS) I would recommend a free data-plan. fring might be free, but the data you are transmitting when talking through Skype isn’t. You’ll still get a bill from your service provider.

I’ve been a happy fring-user for almost a year now. I have it on my Nokia N80IE and Nokia E51. If I had an Apple iPhone I would install it on it too.

As I mentioned fring is the first company to launch a VoIP application for iPhone. You can download fring for iPhone here.

Jonathan MacDonald has written a guide to installing fring on iPhone.

So do you fring while you Skype? Or is it the other way around?

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Darren Rowse has just invented the Blogger Appreciation Day. Today it’s all about saying “Thank you” to your favourite blogger(s).

It could be a peptalk, a “Thank You”-mail or a few words of encouragement.

I would like to thank the following people in no particular order:

Everton Blair – Connected Internet, thank you for having me on the CI team. I’ve learned a lot about blogging and it’s still my main blogging income

Mark Blair – Smoblog, you got me back into blogging and really made me feel like a part of the blogsphere. It all started with me commenting on Smoblog.

Wendy Piersall – eMoms@home, one of the nicest, warmest and busiest eMoms out there. Best of luck with the new eParent Network.

Jennifer Laycock – Search Engine Guide, a huge thank you for the invitation to the Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference. I really really want to attend, but I just started a new job and I can’t take the time off yet.

Arpit Jacob – Clazh, thank you very much for all our chats about blog design. I had a hard time finding the right one, but your input helped me in the right direction.

And last but not least, thank you very much to all those featured in “Show Me Your Desktop”

Who would you like to thank, give a peptalk or encourage to blog on?

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It’s time for another round of Show Me Your Desktop. If you missed Amber Mac’s interview it’s still around.

This week it’s Larissa Meek’s turn to show us her desktop. Fans of the Miss Teen USA or Miss USA pageant know her, fans of the reality TV show “Average Joe: Hawaii” know her and fans of art and interactive design know Larissa.

Larissa is a senior art director at AgencyNet. If you’ve never visited AgencyNet.com, you really missed a great website. They really put the “i” in interactive and they are hiring, if you are interested.

I can also highly recommend you visit Larissa’s personal blog. The design of her blog is just as beautiful and easy on the eyes as her artworks.

What is your background picture?

And by now you are probably guessing this is just another good looking Mac-user, but think again and read the rest here on The Beta News.

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Last week I asked Adam Ostrow from Mashable and Readburner to show me his desktop. This week it’s Amber MacArthur’s (aka Amber Mac) turn.

Amber is co-founder of MGI Media, but you might know her from G4TechTV’s “Call For Help”, Webnation, commandN or net@night podcast, which is hosted by Amber and Leo Laporte. It runs on Leo Laporte’s own netcast network known as TWiT.tv (This Week in Tech). Net@night (previously “Inside The Net”) is published every Thursday. The topics range from Amber’s links to Web 2.0 entrepreneurs.

Amber also hosts commandN, a weekly video show with techtips, reviews, webpicks and more. It is one of the most downloaded video podcasts. It is the 20th highest ranked podcast on Digg. Net@Night is number 17. commandN has been around since 2005. It can be downloaded in various formats, including H.264 and Xbox360.

I’ve been a commandN viewer since Will Pate joined the show, its a coincidence actually. I didn’t know Will Pate before he joined the show.

Now on the the interview. You’ll learn that Amber not only dig fish, she also kicks computers…

Here is a small teaser from the interview. You can read the rest of the interview with Amber Mac on The Beta News.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

Mailplane on work computer.

Internet Explorer or Firefox?

I am a Firefox junkie.

Why do you use Firefox?

I am hooked on Firefox extensions.

What is your favourite program?

Snapz Pro

Which program is the worst?

Apple iChat

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions Amber. Keep up the good work with your shows and good luck with your fish-fetish.

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Last week’s interview with the sword swinging and keyboard wearing Lisa Bettany was a huge success. Especially because of Lisa’s use of twitter, flickr and Pownce.

This week it’s Editor-in-Chief of Mashable, MindSay co-founder and ReadBurner owner Adam Ostrow’s turn to show us his desktop. Many of you probably know Adam from Mashable and MindSay (one of the oldest blogging communities), but from today we’ll also know Adam as the one of the guys, who acquired ReadBurner.

In January 2008 Alexander Marktl launched Readburner as a hobby project, but within a month is became a very popular service. So popular that it took more time than Alexander Marktl had. Luckily for ReadBurner and for us Adam Ostrow, Drew Olanoff and Eric Kerr recently bought it and is making sure the service lives on. So what is ReadBurner?

ReadBurner collects the shared items from each feed. It’s similar to Techmeme and heavily inspired RSSmeme. It has a lot of potential. If they can get the attention and coverage, it’ll beat the current FriendFeed hype. Adam, if you need my help promoting ReadBurner, you can count on me.

The interview is a little taste of what season 3 of Show Me Your Desktop will offer.

What is your background picture?

Hilary Duff. Not like Lizzie McGuire Hilary Duff, that’d be kind of sketchy. But she’s all grown up and looks amazing.

Why did you choose that picture?

What is your background picture?

Hilary Duff. Not like Lizzie McGuire Hilary Duff, that’d be kind of sketchy. But she’s all grown up and looks amazing.

Why did you choose that picture?

In addition to being really hot, Hilary seems like a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of the celebrities out there. She’s involved in a lot of charities and actually does stuff with them like handing out meals in New Orleans after Katrina. I shouldn’t know all this, but I spend almost as much time on WeSmirch as I do TechMeme, so, I do.

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

They are one and the same. Sadly, I’d say when I’m not working, the program I use the most is still Firefox. I spend too much time on the Web.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

Firefox and Trillian are tied, since they are both open all day. Within Firefox, the programs I use the most are Gmail and Google Reader. Those two are also always on.

As usual you can read the rest of the interview on The Beta News. You don’t want to miss Adam’s desktop with the beautiful Hillary Duff. Oh and of course he has some great tips on how to get the most out of your blog.  

Thank you very much Adam and the best of luck with ReadBurner. It’s a great service and I’m certain you will succeed. Oh and if you ever need my services on Mashable…Not that I’m waiting or anything. (Updating Gmail every two minutes and redirecting Skype, IM and twitter to my cell)

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Do you ever consider the environment when you buy a new gadget? I tend to forget and pick gadgets with lots of features, nice design and geek status.

However eco-friendly gadgets are also a competitive parameter. The gadgets manufacturers has found out that consumers are interested in green products.

So which gadget should you buy if you want to be green?

Greenpeace recently launched a report “Searching…for Green Electronics“. The report analyses several parameters among others; dangerous chemicals in the product, energy saving and can it be recycled. Several companies refused to participate in the survey. This includes Acer, Apple, Asus, Creative, Microsoft, Nintendo, Palm and Sharp. I’m very disappointed in you guys. I own an iPod, Zen Vision M, Xbox360 and Nintendo Wii…tsk tsk @ me.

The scale goes from 1 to 10, 10 being the best grade and this is the top 3 lists:

Cell phones:

1. Sony Ericsson T650i – 5.30 points
2. Nokia N95 – 4.40 points
3. LG Electronics KE970 4.05 points

PDA or Smart Phones:

1. Sony Ericsson P1i – 5.10 points
2. HP iPaq 510 – 3.95 points
3. Mio Technology P350 – 3.15 points

Notebooks:

1. Sony Vaio TZ11 – 5.29 points
2. HP Compaq 2710p – 4.82 points
3. Toshiba Prot̩g̩ R500 Р4.74 points

Greenpeace states that no manufacturers score high within all criteria. Still, Greenpeace give Sony and Sony Ericsson a thumbs up! I guess this must make Sony’s competitors green with envy…If I’m looking at our latest energy bill, our consumption is equal to a family of four. We are only two adults and a 5 month old toddler. All our domestic appliances are power saving. The same goes for the light bulbs. Nothing is left in stand-by mode either. EXCEPT… My PC runs 24/7 with router, ADSL modem and all kinds of power adapters. Two laptops and a 42″ plasma TV. I guess they eat a bit too.

If you are interested in more green gadgets, cars and scooters. Read “5 Green And Eco-Friendly Gadgets”.

Do you own any green gadgets? When you buy new gadgets do you prefer the eco-friendly ones? What are you doing to reduce energy consumption?

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Last summer I wrote about the Medison Celebrity laptop, a.k.a. $150 laptop. No one has received the laptop yet. So the question still is: Is the $150 laptop real or a scam?

Not according to Medison. As you read this the Swedish company is busy redesigning their website and recently released the following statement:

Medison will start delivering the Medison Celebrity laptop during 2008.
[more to come]

Yes – WAUW – In the next 8-9 months you can expect to receive your $150 laptop, but thats not all. Medison have other big plans.

The Medison Celebrity webshop is also getting a face lift with new products and accessories. They also plan on new services like broadband connections, software downloads, support and service (?!)

The payment is still handled by 2Checkout, but who will distribute the cheap laptop?

Did you order one or perhaps you are considering it? Do you think Medison can deliver?

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Last week I asked Duncan Riley to Show Me Your Desktop. Duncan started a new urge in me. I want to replace my two 19″ monitor with 22″. If you don’t want to be tempted, then please don’t read last week’s interview with Duncan Riley.

This week it’s Lisa Bettany’s turn to share her desktop with us. If you aren’t familiar with Lisa’s blog “Mostly Lisa”, you are missing something in your feed-reader. She has some hilarious videos, clever blog posts and takes great pictures. The media part is because of her involvement in the multimedia company Redpilot. However Lisa is more than just a blogger, actress, model, nocturnal and geek. She is also in the top 8 in Wired’s Sexiest Geeks 2007. So remember to vote for her.

I also noticed that Lisa has a thing for Mac. Yet again we meet a lovely Canadian with a Mac-fetish and great photography skills. I have to get myself one a Mac. Beautiful people use Macs.

What is your background picture?

OS Leopard theme “Aurora”

Why did you chose that picture?

In the past, I have always used my favourite photographs as my desktop, but being a bit of an Apple fangirl I couldn’t help but get into the OSX Leopard craze. Plus, I personally feel that this is the best desktop image Apple has come out with and who doesn’t like space themes?

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

I’d have to say Safari, because I am constantly blogging or searching the www. Adobe’s Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, iTunes, iPhoto, iChat, VLC, Transmit, and Entourage are my other top applications.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

Work computer = home computer. I run my multimedia company from home, usually in my pajamas.

Internet Explorer or Firefox?

I only use Safari. I use FF as a default when I have browser issues with Safari, but I find Safari to be a cleaner, more aesthetic, better functioning application over-all. Plus, I was getting bogged in FF plug-ins and wasting far too much time searching for new ones. 2008 is all about stream-lining my resources and getting things done!

What is your favourite program?

A toss up between Adobe Photoshop and Final Cut Pro. Both are intensely powerful programs that allow me to create beyond my wildest dreams. I haven’t even touched the power of these programs.

Which program is the worst?

As usual you can read the rest of the interview with the lovely Lisa Bettany on The Beta News.

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Being green and eco-friendly doesn’t have to be boring. I’ve compiled a list of 5 gadgets that are either have low power consumption or help you reduce your carbon footprint.

Unfortunately some of the gadgets might not be available in the US. I’m sorry guys, but the Americans are far behind Europe in terms on energy conversation.

1. Electronic Housekeeper is a Danish invention. The small box controls all the electronic devices in your home and gives you a complete outline of the power consumption of every power plug in the house. If thats not enough your Electronic Housekeeper can play mp3, stream online TV, update you with the latest news, make VoIP phone calls, check your mail and calendar, see whats going on in your house using the inbuilt webcam or text recipes and shopping lists to your cell phone.

   

2. A cheaper and more simple solution is The Wattson. You simply plug the sensor on the power cord and The Wattson will show you how much energy you are using. A strong red light indicates that, you are using too much energy. You can share and compare your energy use with other Wattson owners on DIY Kyoto. The Wattson is illustrated above. A great looking device.
3. Tesla Roadster is an electric car. The resemblance to a certain Porsche with a similar name isn’t coincidental . The Roadster is just as fast as a Lamborghini Murcielago with it’s 13,000 rpm and 248 horse powers and top speed at 200 km/h (120 mph), it can go from 0-100 km/t in less than four seconds. Despite the cool specs the Roadster is more economical than a hybrid car. I have no idea how expensive it will be, but I bet it’s more than my Toyota Avensis.
   

   

4. At a more reasonable price, you can buy a Vectrix Scooter. It runs 109 km (67 miles) on one charge and has a top speed of 100 km/h. You’ll never see me on a scooter, but I like the idea. These are available in the US too.
5. The Honda FCX Clarity might just be what you are looking for. This car runs on a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. It is bascially an electric car, that fuels itself. The top speed is 160 km/h, it has 135 horse powers and the range is 430 km (267 miles). The car is expected to be released this summer. The price is still unknown.

This is part one of my “Green Gadgets”-series. In the next post I will look at gadgets made of recycled materials.

In the mean time I would like to know what gadgets you have that help reduce carbon emission. Do you ever consider buying environmentally friendly gadgets and appliances? How big is your power bill? Too big? Mine certainly is. I blame it on my PC.

UPDATE: Robert Scoble a.k.a. Scobelizer just launched FastCompany.TV. He was lucky enough to get a test drive in the Tesla and streamed it live using Qik.

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I’ve previously written a guide to ebooks and audiobooks, but the guide doesn’t cover Amazon’s latest gadget, Amazon Kindle.

In this post I’ll list five facts and five things the Kindle lacks.

People have talked about ebooks for ages, but like hover cars and meals in pills, they’ve never really broken through. I’ve always had a thing for Sony’s Reader, but it’s only available in the US. Perhaps Amazon’s Kindle could be the thing I’m looking for. With access to the world’s biggest book catalog, this could be the first big step towards the ebook revolution.

Read this post and you’ll be the judge.

5 cool facts about Amazon Kindle:

1. Kindle uses the American EVDO network, which is similar to the European 3G network, only a bit slower. Amazon picked EVDO, instead of WiFi. This lets the user buy and download books no matter where you are. There is no subscription fee. A book usually costs $10 and takes about 10 seconds to download.
2. Kindle has a very basic web browser in black/white and with no Flash or Java support. If you want to subscribe to magazines or blogs you have to pay extra. $15 $.99 is the price if you want to read your favourite blog’s RSS feed. Even though the feed is free, you still have to pay to recieve it.
3. Kindle is born with 256 Mb storage, that’s about 200 books. You can expand the storage with SD-memory cards. According to Amazon the text is automatically updated, if there is an error in the book. Kindle can also play mp3s.
4. With it’s white plastic surface the Kindle isn’t a beauty. I’m sure Apple would never create anything like this. However it has the same size as a book and unlike a laptop it’s silent and doesn’t get warm. The 6″ e-ink screen can be read in direct sun light and the battery can last up to 30 hours of reading. Personally I think this is only good for books. I’d hate to read my favourite magazine in black/white.
5. Ebooks bought at Amazon are protected by AZW DRM. This way you can’t share yor books with your friends. The Kindle can also read “unprotected” books in the Mobipocket, txt, html, JPG, Gif or Word-format. You can also copy text from the net straight onto Kindle using USB or email the text to it. If you email text to Kindle it will cost you extra.

And now 5 things the Kindle lacks:

1. No PDF-support. How can one of the biggest book formats not be supported. This is a definitive must in the next version.
2. A black/white screen is cool when you are reading books, but I want colours when I’m reading magazines.
3. Why not combine real books and ebooks? If I buy a real books I should get the ebook for free or at a very low extra cost.
4. Why should I pay to read blogs that people write for free? I’m not going to pay $15 $.99 per RSS-feed. I paid $399 for the Kindle.
5. Who designed the Kindle? A designer that escaped the from the former Soviet union?

So having read this – Will you buy an Amazon Kindle? Are you using another ebook reader?

Perhaps you think ebooks are overrated and just a hype. Let me know what you think.

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Phew… Finally some time to blog again. I usually publish a Show Me Your Desktop interview on Sundays, but due to the screen writers’ strike we’ve had delays this season… Ok that’s not true, the cursed work has kept me busy, but now all important projects and presentations are done.

If you missed last week’s interview with Sarah Meyers head over here to read it. Sarah just launched Pop17.com.

This week it’s Duncan Riley’s turn to Show Me Your Desktop. If you Google Duncan Riley a lot of different articles and posts comes up. Many of them are about why he left b5media in 2006. That’s 1½ year ago, so there isn’t anything interesting in that anymore. Instead I’ll focus on what Duncan does now.

He is one of the more controversial bloggers. His posts on TechCrunch often starts a heated debate. This particular debate extended into this blog post on Duncan’s personal blog. I’m still not sure what the Australian government’s plan is, but what I gather it sounds really stupid.

Duncan also hosts a really interesting podcast show on thepodcastnetwork. Here he interviews a very mixed crowd from local Australian web experts to American money makers.

And now on with the interview.

What is your background picture?

The Apple store in San Francisco I took in July 2007.

Why did you chose that picture?

It seemed appropriate for my Mac Pro. The picture itself has the Apple logo on the store nearly dead middle

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

I have two computers. A Mac Pro at home, and a Macbook Pro (17″) for when I’m on the road. As I work for myself there’s no personal or work computer as such.

Twitteriffic would get the best work out on both computers, aside from the browser and Mac Mail.

Internet Explorer or Firefox?

Until days ago I would have said Flock. It’s a great browser that in my experience at least is less of a memory hog than FF2 was. I’m now using the latest beta of Firefox 3. The first beta still had memory issues, but as of beta 2 it’s a pleasure to use, and it’s very memory efficient (even more so than Flock). It looks like Mozilla has finally fixed the memory leaks that ruined Firefox 2.Why do you use Fireox?

I was a windows user until nearly 12 months ago, and even then I used Firefox over Internet Explorer. I’m a heavy tab user and Firefox has done tabs from pretty close to the beginning. IE 7 is a vastly improved browser over IE6, but by that stage, like a lot of people, I’d switched to Firefox and had no interest in going back.
You can read the rest of the interview with Duncan Riley on The Beta News.
Duncan has some really interesting blogging tips and a blog HQ that will make most people a bit envious.

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Remember the very popular interview with Guy Kawasaki is still available. Read it and find out why I’m changing my view on Mac.

This week I’m asking Sarah Meyers to Show Me Your Desktop. Sarah Meyers is the producer, writer and host of the daily tech show at PopSnap. I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of the alpha version of PopSnap and it looks very promising. On PopSnap she has interviewed people like Richard Branson, Jeff Jarvis and Stephen Baldwin.

Sarah isn’t like any other video journalist. In one video you’ll see her ordering at McDonalds in an Optimus Prime mask. For some reason the McDonalds manager calls the police. In another video she is thrown out of the TechCrunch 06 party. I’m still not sure why.

She also runs several other sites. Her own blog on WordPress, another blog on Tumblr and a new site, Pop17.com, that I’m not sure what is yet.

Sarah has a really interesting tip on how to get the most out of your blog. I’ve never heard that before.

Here comes the interview with Sarah Meyers.

What is your background picture?

Rocks. It’s very Zen.

Why did you chose that picture?

Because my work can be stressful. I edit video on my computer and when the machine gets too hot the software crashes.

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

Safari

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

Final Cut Pro

Internet Explorer or Firefox?

Firefox on the PC. I usually use Safari

What is your favourite program?

Garage Band

Which program is the worst?

As always to read the rest of the interview with Sarah Meyers on The Beta News.

Click to see the bigger version

Thank you very much Sarah! It was very entertaining to research you. I’ve never seen anyone order a fajita wearing an Optimus Prime mask, but as someone commented. The manager probably mistook you for a Decepticon.

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If you missed last week’s interview with the lovely (as David Letterman would say) Rebecca Bollwitt you can still read it. This week I’m very proud to ask Guy Kawasaki to Show Me Your Desktop.

Guy Kawasaki saved Apple, (according to some he resurrected Apple twice), is managing director and founder of Garage Technology Venture, one of the founders behind Truemors.com and launched Alltop.com last week.

Guy’s latest site Alltop.com is inspired by popurls.com, except Alltop has divided the news into topics. Alltop grabs the feeds from the top sites within each topic. The topics range from Auto and Celebrities to Macintosh and Sports. It basically gives you the latest headlines from 50+ websites within each topic. I discovered a few gaming sites I didn’t know, not to mention the very valuable Green topic. Remember you have to reduce your CO2 emission.

Now during the interview you will see, why Guy resurrected Apple and see an interviewer who never could do that. I’ll have to reword my future interviews for season 3.

What is your background picture?

I did the Leopard update, and this is what was left.

Why did you chose that picture?

I never bothered to change it after the upgrade. I should be getting a MacBook Air shortly and maybe I’ll make an effort to have a cool desktop.

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

I only have one computer. The application that I use most is Entourage because I am a slave to email.

Since I spoke to Guy, he has converted to Mac Air and uses two computers regularly. The Mac Air and iMac.

Internet Explorer or Firefox?

*BEEP* This is where yours truly reveals his Mac-noobness. Guy is very overbearing and takes it pretty well, for a man who breathes Mac.

You have to read the rest of the interview with Guy Kawasaki on The Beta News this is not the only question, where I display my Mac ignorance. :-/

Click for a bigger image

One thing is sure, I’ll never forget about Macintosh again. The interview has inspired me to start a new blog. I’ve been a PC user for nearly 20 years and never given Macs much thought (sorry Guy). I’ve supported a Mac-user once and it was a nightmare.

From now on all the money I earn from my blog will go into the “Buy a Mac”-pool. I’ll pack my PCs (laptop and stationary) down and just use a Mac Notebook, Mac Air or whatever they are called for an entire year and blog about it. From day 1 where I open the box and write my first blog post to day 365 where I’ll evaluate my experience. I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that the Mac will surprise me.

Sorry for the rambling, but the thought just hit me. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions Guy! I’m honoured to have such great and inspirational people in my interview series.

You have to read the rest of the interview with Guy Kawasaki on The Beta News.

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In the next two weeks I’ll host the biggest contest ever on The Beta News. Actually it’s the first contest ever here, but who’s counting?!

Now the rules to participate are developed by my twisted brain, so hopefully this will be a contest unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

The rules are fairly simple.

Option 1: Follow me on Twitter. At a random time I will announce a keyword on Twitter and the followers will have three hours to mail it to me. A random follower will then be drawn.

Option 2: Keyword in RSS-feed. Subscribe to my RSS-feed and mail the keyword to me. Send the “secret” word to contest (at) thebetanews.com.

Option 3: Blog about the contest or The Beta News content. Write a blog post about the contest, or one of the sponsors, or one of The Beta News posts (for instance one of the Show Me Your Desktop interviews) using relevant anchor text like “celebrity blogger interview, problogger interview or blogging advice”. Another example could be my post about why virtual worlds are the next Web 2.0 money maker. Anchor text examples here could be “Web 2.0 and virtual worlds”, ” webkinz and clubpenguin.com is a money maker” or something similar. Basically anchor texts are links that features keywords about the post being linked to. Remember to Stumble your post and if you think it’s really good, submit it to digg, sphinn or other sites.

Remember to post a link in a comment in the contest post. I will Stumble your post as well. I can only encourage you to Stumble other contestants posts too.
Option 4: Take a picture of your blog “HQ” or desktop. Take a picture or a small video of what your blogger HQ, desk or computer desktop looks like. Post it in a blog post and link to this post.

Each part gives you an extra chance to win the big drawing on day 14.

Complete one or more options. Each option gives you an extra chance in the final drawing. All drawings are made by random.org.

And now for the prizes:

• Lorelle VanFossen’s book “Blogging Tips – What bloggers won’t tell you about blogging” sponsored and signed by Lorelle VanFossen. You won’t find better tips and tricks about WordPress and blogging in general anywhere else. Lorelle is the blogging expert. Visit Lorelle on WordPress.
• David Airey from DavidAirey.com and Logo Design Love has kindly taken some time out of his busy schedule and is sponsoring his design expertise. David will give the winner a critique of his/hers blog with suggestions and improvements. David has been my “go-to-guy” on several blog design occasions and he was the first to refer me to Brian Gardner. His latest blog , Logo Design Love, is all about his passion for logos.
• Entrecard.com has kindly sponsored three Entrecard Featured Status – This means you get a golden border around your Entrecard for a week. Great way of getting more attention. On top of that, Entrecard also sponsor three Fast Passes. With a Fast Pass you can jump to the top of an advert request.
• One Amazon.com $100 gift card
• One Amazon.com $30 gift card
• One Amazon.de €20 gift card (to make the Euros happy)
• Two $25 in cash through PayPal
• Three The Beta News t-shirts with logo and everything

If you feel like sponsoring a prize, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

The contest starts now and ends Friday, 22 February 2008.

Good luck everybody!

PS: If you like The Beta News, please go ahead and Favorite it on Technorati.

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Researching for this round of Show Me Your Desktop, my wife asked me how come I didn’t have many women in the interview series. This opened a whole new world for me. The world of Canadian bloggers.

Rebecca Bollwitt is a Canadian blogger. She is among the top Vancouver bloggers, a Canucks fan (NHL ice hockey team) and she blogs for a good cause.

Reading Rebecca’s aka Miss 604 blog has really given me yet another reason to go to Canada. The pictures she takes of Vancouver and surroundings make me want to go there even more.

Oh and a small tip. Rebecca’s background picture certainly deserves a second look. I’ve got a Sokazo background now on my PC.

What is your background picture?
- I change my background every month. This month’s is an image by Philippe Sokazo, one of my contacts on Flickr.

Why did you chose that picture?
- Sokazo’s a local artist and I just love the clean look and bright colours he uses.

And as usual you can read the rest of the interview on The Beta News.

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To some the name Scott Adams might not ring a bell. I’ll give you a few hints, BOCTAOE, YSLE, Moist Robots and Elbonian. Did that ring a bell? The ultimate giveaway is of course – Dilbert.

Yes, THE Scott Adams is the first one to be featured in the relaunch of Show Me Your Desktop, season 2.

I’ve been a great fan of Scott’s blog for a long time. The post varies from the very philosophical topics to general nonsense. Some of his posts about Intelligent Design might be a bit too advanced for me.

Scott is probably also the most robbed man in the world. It was also through his blog I learned about Stephan Pastis’ brilliant comic Pearls Before Swine. I usually buy the Dilbert Day-to-Day Calendar, but this year I managed to find the Pearls Before Swine Day-to-Day Calendar, so please forgive me Scott. To compensate I get the Dilbert comic in my email every day.

Now let’s move on with the interview. To the new readers welcome to season 2 of Show Me Your Desktop, where I every Sunday ask a blogger to tell us a bit about his or her computer desktop and give a few tips. The interview usually also features a screen shot of her or his desktop.

What is your background picture?

Just a plain color. Sort of greenish blue.

Why did you chose that picture?

I like the background to be non-distracting.

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

At home, I generally only use the Internet, using IE.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

And as usual to read the rest of the interview go to The Beta News. If you can guess Scott’s favourite program. I owe you a beer. I know you can’t guess it!
So who else can you expect in this season of Show Me Your Desktop? Well in no particular order I’ve got interviews from Guy Kawasaki, Jeremy Schoemaker (Shoemoney), Larissa Meek (artist, Miss USA finalist and reality TV star), Sarah Meyers (Founder and host of POP Snap) , Fake Steve Jobs, Duncan Riley (TechCrunch, Blogging Evangelist and B5 Media co-founder), Lisa Brewster (Sophistechate, Schwag-model and Web 2.0 entrepeneur) and Amber Mac (She does too many things to list here) just to name a few. So as you can see this is going to be a REALLY interesting season!

Do you have any interview suggestions? Then please let me know.

Instead of showing you a picture of Scott’s desktop, I’ll show you the latest Dilbert widget. It comes in different sizes and fit onto every platform. The Dilbert Widget is free.

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When I first heard about Buron Paradise City I was thrilled. As soon as the demo was online on Xbox Live, I downloaded it and couldn’t wait to play it.

Man was I disappointed. I drove around a few blocks and tried a few races and that was it. No crashing, no car wrecks. Just some streets to roam. I couldn’t help it though. I refused to believe that Criterion Games had committed such a lousy demo. So I bought the game for my Xbox 360 (with my own money, since this reviewer doesn’t get any games for review).

I’m glad I bought Burnout Paradise City! (not that I spent my own money on it *hint* *hint*).

Burnout Paradise City is nothing like the old Burnout games.

• There is no sequential mode going from rank to rank, instead you get a notch in your driver’s license.
• You don’t start an event from a menu, instead you just drive around exploring Paradise City. Events are started from intersections. There are two types of events Time race and Showtime.
• Time race and Road rage is the classic drive from start to goal, except in Burnout Paradise City there is no defined route for you to follow. The minimap shows the goal area and then it’s up to you how you get there.
• Crash mode is replaced with Showtime mode. I do miss Crash mode. I really liked how you had to coordinate your stunts. In Showtime you use your boost to make the car jump around like a rubberball. You can do that for a very long time and all you have to do it hit cars, that comes toward you down the road. There is no aftertouch either, so no more taking cars down with you.

• Another thing diehard Burnout fans might miss, I’m not sure I will, is traffic checking. If you drive into something your car takes damage. There are several auto shops in Paradise City, that will fix your car. Speaking of shops you can tank boost at gas stations. Another minor new thing.
• The saddest part about Burnout Paradise City is the lack of new events. After each notch in your driver’s license, the events you’ve raced are reset and you need to drive them again. Luckily Paradise City is an open world, so there is plenty to explore, it would still be nice with some new events nevertheless.
• It would be nice if you could turn off the DJ too. That guy drives me nuts. I turned down the music immediately too. On Xbox 360 you can use your own music if you prefer that. A new and very cool detail. As far as I know that’s the only difference between the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions.
• Multiplayer mode has also gotten a facelift. Instead of a multiplayer menu, you simply join multiplayer directly in game and is transferred to a multiplayer Paradise City, where every intersection hosts an event. For the pervs out there… Yes, you can use your Playstation Eye or Xbox Live Vision Camera. When you take down a rival player the camera takes a mugshot of his reaction… This could get naughty.
• The graphic is excellent. I wish I could see it on a HD TV. I think that would make the Burnout experience even better.

If I should give Burnout Paradise City a grade it would be 8 out of 10. I really like the idea of the open world, but I miss a few classic features like Crash mode and aftertouch. Not being able to turn off the DJ annoys me too.

Burnout Paradise City is available for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It is out now.

So are you planning on buying Burnout Paradise City? Did you play any of the older ones? Or perhaps you prefer the “quieter” racing games like Project Gotham Racing or Forza Motorsport 2?

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I’m in no way affiliated with EA or EA Sports or any other computer company. I still find EA pretty cool. They are the only major video game developer company I know that has publicly defended a video game.

It’s not FIFA 08, but the RPG Mass Effect. Electronic Arts recently bought the franchise rights to it and has since been under fire from various medias.

EA wants to clarify the serious errors done by Fox News, including the error about full digital nudity and sex and the ability for players to engage in graphic sex.

Mass Effect is available for Xbox 360 only (or “SE” Xbox as the Fox Network calls it).

Kotaku.com has the full story on this.

Start out by watching the video here:

Keighley Sets Mass Effect Record Straight… Or Tries To

The video is pretty hilarious. Serious journalists and educated people are talking about a video game they’ve never played. We play the exact same video games in Europe, sometimes even naughtier or bloodier than they do in the US, and still we have no shootings in school or malls.

After the video read this article about the whole situation.

EA Calls Fox Out on “Insulting” Mass Effect Inaccuracies

I don’t know what to say, except quote John Cleese’s Notice of Revocation of Independence:

You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you’re not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you’re not grown up enough to handle a gun.

This is so stupid and pointless. I know they have a lot of other problems in the States, that they should worry about instead.

How many children see weapons in WalMart? In their homes? See their father use or wear a gun? Watch animals mate on National Geographic? See Pokemons fight or be bombarded with advertisement when playing with their Webkinz in a virtual world?

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As promised yesterday I’ll tell you what to expect from Microsoft’s $10 million Halo 3 marketing campaign in Europe. About 800 Americans have already tried Halo 3 on a towering IMAX theater screen in either San Francisco or New York. Now you have a chance to try that too.

Microsoft is flying over rapper and producer Pharrell Williams to host the a party at the BFI IMAX in London. Pharrell Williams??!! I’m no Brit. I don’t know why Microsoft isn’t using a British celebrity instead! (*COUGH*Like Lucy Pinder or Keeley Hazell*COUGH*). Anyway back to the post.

You can play against Pharrell Williams at the IMAX or take on other celebrity gamers via Xbox Live. Events in Madrid, Amsterdam, Milan and Paris will be linked to London through Xbox Live.

Of course, you can also buy the Halo 3-themed Xbox 360 from September 26 in the UK.

On top of that over 1,000 shops across the UK are open for launch-night events. According to Microsoft more than 1.25 million preorders have been received for Halo 3 globally. Don’t worry though, the production of the discs has reached 81 copies per second.

Do you know of any events in your neighbourhood or city? Are you planning on attending any? When will you buy Halo 3? At midnight or the next day?

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This is a sad week for the blogosphere. The number of visitors will drop, the number of posts will drop, the income will drop and we won’t have anything to hype about for a week.

Two very popular games are released this week – Halo 3 and FIFA 08. I’m sure a lot of you are looking forward to the release of Halo 3. Either because you are tired of the Halo 3 hype or because you just can’t get enough Halo 3 news.

To make everything easier for both types I’ve collected nine reviews of Halo 3 on one page. Needless to say Halo 3 is living up to the vast quantities of hype. I’ve never seen critics use so many positive words in a review. So either they are really really hyped or Halo 3 is so great, awesome, fantastic and beautiful that the critics can’t get their arms (literally) down.

9.5 / 10 IGN.com

“…the sheer weight of hype alone brings inevitable disappointment. It would have had to have troubled the very best single-player gamesever to reach for those highs but it doesn’t.”
“Bungie’s innovations have pushed the boundaries on not only what multiplay does, but what multiplayer is…”

9.5 / 10 GameSpot.com
Halo 3 is every bit the sequel you would expect it to be…”
“…it’s the addition of the Forge level editor and the saved films that give the game an even longer set of legs…”

9.7 / 10 Team Xbox
“Halo 3 is the best Xbox 360 game to date.”
“They’ve basically taken everything great about the series and improved upon it in every way…”

10 / 10 1UP.com

“…no one aspect of the game is life-changing on its own, but perhaps the package as a whole is.”
“…every co-op game we’ve played over Xbox Live, whether it’s two, three, or four players, has been fairly-to-incredibly laggy.”
“Where Halo 3 does surprise, however, is in the other modes of play, stuff that may not seem like that big a deal on a bulleted list on the back of a box. A map editor? Co-op play? You’ve been there — but you haven’t done that.”

10 / 10 Eurogamer.net

“…the best game yet in one of the best FPS franchises of the era.”
“…the flaws are so minor that even the most churlish of reviewers would be hard pressed to mark the game down.”

9.7 / 10 Computerandvideogames.com

“It’s not going to revolutionise the genre – it’s not meant to – it’s meant to be great fun, which it is.”
“…an incredible gaming experience that offers many different ways to play it, alone with your mates, or against the global community.”

10 / 10 GamesRadar.com

“The single player is bigger and brawnier than anything that’s been attempted on a console before.”
“The new features – Forge, Saved Films, Coop – are frighteningly addictive.”

8.5 / 10 Destructoid.com

“Halo 3 is the new hotness in terms of console multiplayer.”
“While many of my hang-ups from previous games have been mended, Halo 3’s campaign suffers from a similar overreaching ambition that seeks to accomplish just a bit more than it actually can.”

No grades Joystiq

“…not the Xbox 360′s graphical showcase, falling short of benchmarks set by Gears of War last year, and more recently Bioshock”
“There isn’t perfection here. There isn’t an absolute, please-all quality.”

As you can see the critics agree. Halo 3 is the best game on the market right now. According to some it is the only excuse you need to buy an Xbox360.

So what do you think? Is it hyped? Think of a grade or score you will give it and let’s talk about it on Wednesday.

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In just a couple of days a $10 million marketing blitz will work it’s magic. On September 24 2007, which from now on will be known as All Halo’s Eve, Microsoft and Bungie unleashes it’s $10,000,000 publicity inferno.

We’ve already seen the first four steps of the five step campaign. It began with TV spots during Monday Night Football in USA last December, which was later seen on YouTube by 3 million people. The second step was the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta, cleverly bundled with Crackdown. 820,000 players helped the Master Chief and Bungie improve the game.

Now how many of you can guess what step three was? No it wasn’t the Halo 3 branded Mountain Dew and Doritos or 7-Eleven and Burger King in-store promotions or the Halo 3 NASCAR vehicle or Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution tour or the Master Chief was figurine in Madame Tussaud’s Was Museum in Las Vegas. All those things were a part of step four. So what was step three? Take a guess and read on if you want to know the answer.

Step three of the Halo 3 hype offensive was Project Iris. Did you guess that? If you didn’t then don’t worry, not many people took part in Project Iris. The project was an attempt to generate some viral buzz. Some of you might remember ilovebees.com. That was the URL at the end of the Halo 2 trailer. These marketing “schemes” are called ARG (Alternate-Reality Game). It’s a real website, but it isn’t. Like The Blair Witch Project or Steven Spielberg’s A.I.

The last step has already started. The largest retailer of consumer electronics in the US, Best Buy has teamed up with Pontiac and is giving away a Halo 3-themed Pontiac. We already know about the Halo 3-themed Xbox360, but did you know that Microsoft is also releasing a Halo 3-themed Zune?

The hype doesn’t stop here. Across the US more than 10,000 stores are hosting early-morning Halo 3 launch events. In New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Miami one store will offer Halo fans prelaunch playtime against celebrities, athletes and Bungie staff members. Of course you can expect a lot of merchandise to be given away at the regional events too.

So what will happen in Europe? Check back tomorrow and I’ll tell you.

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As a few of you might know, Bungie and Microsoft are releasing a minor update to Halo 1 and Halo 2 next week. To make it easy for everybody they’ve decided to call it Halo 3. Almost everybody who owns a Xbox360 is really looking forward to this.

If everything goes as planned and announced Halo 3 will conclude the triology (!) That is all very peachy, but we all know we aren’t just playing Halo for the single-player campaign’s fault, oooh no, you want to show those teenagers out there on Xbox Live, who the real Master Chief is right?!

To achieve that you should read on, because you know those emerging adults are fast and good. (Of course, I’ve never gotten my behind kicked by a teenager with baggy pants and a voice that doesn’t know if it should be deep or high pitched.)

The new level or map is called “Contruct”. It is actually the original concept name from the Halo 3 development phase and it was a part of the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta. Originally Construct had a much greater elevation difference between the two levels, Banshees fighting between the levels was really the concept. Those of you who tried the multiplayer beta might have noticed that it Banshees were very hard to use. In the official release Banshees are almost useless, because to take advantage of Contruct you should focus on infantry combat and zone control.

As I mentioned zone control is really important in Construct. It is no secret that if you are on higher grounds you usually have an advantage. On the upper level, there’s a sniper rifle for keeping an eye on the approaches. There is also a sword, but if you want it, you have to put yourself in a compromising situation. The ones on the lower level are also getting their share of the armoury. The Spartan Laser should help you getting those on the upper level down to earth again. If that fails you can always use the Brute Shots or Maulers to rush the lifts and get to higher grounds.

Speaking of lifts, this is where the real trick in Contruct is, they act on almost everything – players, grenades or equipment. This is very inconvenient for the happy campers upstairs. Use the lifts to send power drainers up and top of with a grenade or two. That should give you enough room to safely take the lift and gain the advantage of higher grounds yourself.

Remember it takes a coordinated offense to take the higher level, so make use of the lifts and your fusion coils.

Let me know how this works out for you. Do you have any tips to share? What is your favourite Halo map?

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I was writing a post about the various trick moves in FIFA 08 Xbox360 and Playstation 3 version. I was doing some research, when I discovered Giggs from the official EA Sports forum and holy cow his work has been a real time save.

Thank you Giggs for doing this!

You can find the videos illustrating the various football moves in Giggs’ Photobucket.

Photobucket has done the quality in a bit, but their all still sweet to watch.

To Start doing any trick hold Xbox 360 LT or PS3 L2

• Rainbow is easy I can do it every time now, Move the RS back, forward then forward again. (quickly)

If this Doesnt work or you still cant do it, just keep pushing forwards after the back then timings out of the questing because by smacking it forwards loads ur bound to hit the timing.

• Rainbow V2 Admin said it there are two, This one on the RS pull back then forwards and hold it forwards for a little bit, then flick it forwards again.

See the sweet football move here.

• Blanco is just click RS

• Ronaldo Chop – Double tap back and direction on the LS

• Step over and hit it with trailing foot – Forwards then back

In match Video http://youtube.com/watch?v=SWX4JLj8aUs[/video]

• (Dont know the official name for it) When u spin over the ball Zidane’s trick – Run then right stick from back round to the right up to forwards and from back round left to do the other way. (Half Circle Back + Forwards)

• Keepy Uppies – Tap RB, to flick it up whilst keepyuppies LS forwards

You can even do more tricks whilst doing keepie uppies.

• Zico Turn – Double tap RS diagonaly back n left or right to do it either direction

• Elastico – do a half circle with the RS from forwards all the way round to back going left or right changes direction of which way u do it.

(Also works doing a full circle from forawrds all the way round)

• Single Stepover – Right/Left then round to forwards.

Stepovers – Forwards then roatate to diagonal forwards/right or left then the oposite side right / left in a quater circle motion from both diagonals.

• Flick Over Your Head – forward forward back back, Standing Still

In Match Video

• Around the World – Start with Keepie uppies then roll the RS around to the left

• Mid Air Elastico – I can only make this work right after a around the world, but rotate the RS to the right whilst in a keepie uppie.

• The Rivaldo – Move the tight stick backwards, then quater circle to the left, then half circle round to the right.

(Look through the post theres a good diagram on page 2)

• The Rabona – It is possible, I’m still trying to confirm it but I have done it and there is a video on my photobucket. I’ll probably have it figured in a bit.

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With only 10 days left until the full release of FIFA 08 I still haven’t made up which version to buy.

Since I don’t have a Playstation 3, that one is easily answered. Basically there isn’t any difference between FIFA 08 on Playstation 3 or Xbox360, so it doesn’t really matter some might say- BUT IT MATTERS – I can’t participate in the FIFA Interactive World Cup, because it’s on Playstation Network this year.

So the only question that now remains. Should I get the Xbox360 or Nintendo Wii edition of FIFA 08?

Do I want the Party mode on Nintendo Wii or the Be-A-Pro-mode on Xbox360?

Perhaps this video will help me make up my mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzomhufhZM8[/video]

Which version will you buy? Xbox360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Nintendo Wii, PC, Mobil, PSP or Nintendo DS?

Buy Your FIFA 08 Here (UK)

Buy Your FIFA 08 Here (DE)

Buy Your FIFA 08 Here (US)

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