By GARY GENTILE
Verizon Wireless customers will soon be able to watch live TV over a network constructed by Qualcomm Inc.
Verizon will launch its new service, dubbed V Cast Mobile TV, sometime in the first quarter, the company said Sunday at the International Consumer Electronics Show. Verizon said it would release details on pricing and availability closer to the launch of the service.
Verizon also announced an upgrade to its FIOS digital television service that will let users use their cell phone to program their home digital video recorders, change parental controls and perform other functions.
Many of the channels on the V Cast service will be live feeds from major broadcast partners, including NBC, CBS and Fox. Recorded full-length programs will also be offered, such as episodes of late-night talk shows.
Two handsets will be available at launch - one from Samsung and another from LG. More handsets and TV channels are expected to be added by year's end.
Verizon is the first wireless carrier use the network created by Qualcomm Inc. The MediaFLO system broadcasts signals to mobile phones over a different portion of the wireless spectrum than cellular calls and data services.
The phones have dedicated TV keys that launch the service. An antenna can be extended to strengthen the signal.
In a demonstration Sunday, the signals were strong and the picture quality sharp, without delays or hiccups caused by buffering data as often happens with video carried over current wireless networks.
The service comes with a program guide and customers can "channel surf" using the phone's keypad. The screens on the phones are about 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) diagonally.
The live programming will be available in U.S. East coast and West coast feeds. Local programming might be added later, said John Stratton, Verizon's vice president and chief marketing officer. Parental controls are included to block objectionable programs.
The same advertising that appears on the live feed will also appear on the V Cast service, the company said.
"We think that potentially the market is very large for this," Verizon president and chief operating officer Denny Strigl told The Associated Press. The market will grow over the next two years, he said.
"We think the advantage we have here is that we are first to market and it is something that will not degrade the existing network that we have."
Samsung Electronics Co. also said Sunday it was working on technology that will become available sometime in 2009, after U.S. broadcasters make the switch to digital TV signals.
The system, called Advanced-VSB, is designed to strengthen the digital signal sent from local broadcast stations so that mobile receivers can lock into it, even if moving at high speed, such as in a car or train, or in cities where buildings and other objects often interfere with the signal.
The system would allow a wide range of mobile TV applications, such as signals sent to a handheld device or a laptop computer, using the same broadcast signal sent to television sets.
Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Friday, January 05, 2007
Roy Blumenthal's 'Virtual Surf Report' rides the waves again with Jon Gericke on SAfm
Friday, 5 January 2007
If you've got the time, I've got the inclination!* World time clocks to keep you from second-guessing.
A bunch of tools to help you with your multinational time-management.
Firstly, there's the freeware/shareware application, Qlock. It sits on your desktop, and is hugely configurable. So you can see what time it is anywhere in the world. You can set alarms for any of those cities. And you can hide or show the clocks with a click of your mouse.
Next in the list is a site for people who don't have a need for a clock on their desktops 24/7. If you have an occasional need to check times, this is the place to go... WorldTimeServer.com. This site also offers you a free widget to add to your blog... you can pop an analog or digital clock to your site.
And if you want to customise a countdown, and see the time displayed as days, hours, or seconds, head for TimeAndDate.com. As of this very second, I'll turn 50 years old in exactly... 382 363 170 seconds! Send me a birthday present. You've got time!
*Said the Leaning Tower of Piza to the Big Ben.
Links:
Thursday, 4 January 2007
The fine art of dusty car windows -- meet Scott Wade, dust artist extraordinaire
When I first came across the work of Scott Wade, I thought it was a prank. But a quick Google of his name yielded dozens of sites showing his work. He seems to be real!
He's an American artist who works in a particularly transitory medium... the dust on car windows.
He waits for dust to accumulate, and then hacks at it with paintbrushes and such to remove bits of dust to make masterpieces.
Links:
Wednesday, 3 January 2007
Toddler-friendly videos online that'll 'blow your baby's mind'
Jeremiah McNichols has a brilliant blog called 'Z Recommends'. Z is his two-and-a-half year old daughter. And the blog is about the stuff that she likes and loves in the world.
In this case, Jeremiah found animations by unusual or forgotten artists, and showed them to Z. And ranked them. Each artist gets a detailed description on the blog, and you can watch the videos yourself to make sure they're good for your kid.
Thanks to the editors of Drawn!, a blog 'devoted to illustration, art, cartooning and drawing'.
Links:
Tuesday, 2 January 2007
Track your progress and boost your success on 'Joe's Goals'
The second day of 2007, and you've probably got some New Year's resolutions that you're still committed to. Here's a free online tool to help you do the things you want to do. Joe's Goals is a website that let's you define your positive and negative goals, and then track your progress. When you do something towards a goal, you click on the goal. And the online software keeps count.
There's also a Joe's Logbook option, which is really a goal-tracking tool for a particular project.
For me, one of the best things about the site is that you can set it up to email you a reminder if you haven't updated your goals for a while. It really helps you to be mindful.
Links:
Monday, 1 January 2007
Resolved to get out of the rat race? Get some inspiration from 'Escape From Cubicle Nation'
Happy New Year! May it be filled with learning, loving, and laughing!
And if one of your resolutions is to remove yourself from a job you hate, and to get into the wonderful world of entrepreneurship, then Pamela Slim's 'Escape From Cubicle Nation' is the blog for you.
Crammed with resources, ideas, inspiration, and interviews with successful escapees, you'll certainly find it useful.
What's more, the comments threads form an amazing network of people all set on the same course. International networking for the new entrepreneur. An instant mentor network, if you like.
Links:
Friday, 29 December 2006
A free graphic novel online -- SHOOTING WAR -- my favourite read of 2006
Written by Anthony Lappé, drawn by Dan Goldman, SHOOTING WAR is a tangy, vicious, sexy, gritty, frighteningly-realistic depiction of a near future.
In this gripping graphic novel, the main character is a guy who, using the video camera on his phone, accidentally vid-blogs a bombing. He's then catapulted to fame by a tv network who gets hold of his footage. They make him an offer he can't refuse... to go to the Middle East and vid-blog the ongoing war there.
Beware... if you START reading this, you WILL spend several wonderful hours absorbed in the story!
Links:
Thursday, 28 December 2006
Two views of a superpower... the left-wing 'Huffington Post', and the (obviously) right-wing 'Right Wing News'
In the interests of transparency, I have to state up-front that I'm a leftie. So I'm biased in favour of leftie things. That said, I'm also very much a 'devil's advocate'. I'm MUCH more interested in a balanced, well-argued opinion than I am in a one-sided opinion. So... to today's Virtual Surf Report.
We're looking at two news sources covering politics in America.
I'm a fan of The Huffington Post, a left-wing journal that takes an in-depth look at many of the issues facing Americans today. I find their opinion pieces to be very cleanly written, well-researched, witty, and clever. When I finish reading one of their articles, I come away from it with the feeling that I'm not being fed some kind of propaganda angle.
I'm NOT a fan of Right Wing News, which is an online journal dedicated to 'Conservative News and Views'. I'm n ot a fan because I really just wish they would ARGUE their points sanely and rationally. I don't really get any sense of balance from their articles. I'm left with a feeling that I've been smacked over the head with a hunting rifle. They sneer at the left, instead of answering their concerns. However, it's deeply important to get acquainted with 'the other side'. Their fears are real. Their concerns are real. Just because they don't argue them well doesn't mean they should be dismissed.
Two fascinating reads. Enjoy being caught in the middle! And make up your own mind.
(And for some help in being able to make up your own mind, you might want to read an article from one of my favourite books on thought hygiene. The book is called STRAIGHT AND CROOKED THINKING by Robert H Thouless. It appears to be out of print, but the article on the web is the core of it. It's titled 'Thirty-eight Dishonest Tricks Which Are Commonly Used in Argument, With the Methods of Overcoming Them'. A must-read.)
Links:
Wednesday, 27 December 2006
The quirky humour (and marketing savvy) of GapingVoid
Hugh MacLeod's GapingVoid blog is one of those must-reads. His quirky business card cartoons are a treat, and you can insert a widget onto your website to feed them to your own viewers.
Read Hugh's blog if you want to:
Tuesday, 26 December 2006
Print a better present for yourself with Flickr and Creative Commons
Someone gave you a present you don't really WANT? Replace it with something that works for you!
Enter Flickr, the photo sharing site, in collaboration with Creative Commons. You can browse through around 26 million photos that are licensed under one of the Creative Commons variations that allows any user to download the photo, take it to their favourite photo printing outlet (where you would take your digital pics to be printed), and make an art print to adorn your walls (or even a t-shirt, if you're adventurous).
Links:
Monday, 25 December 2006
Change This
This is a site dedicated to challenging the way ideas are created and spread. In their words: 'We're on a mission to spread important ideas and change minds.'
On the site, you'll find free, downloadable manifestos on a whole host of topics. Here's their definition of a manifesto: 'It's an argument, a reasoned, rational call to action, supported by logic and facts.' My definition of their manifestos is this: 'Interesting, fascinating, entertaining, thought-provoking knowledge-snapshots.'
One of my favourite manifestos of the moment is The Power of the Marginal by Paul Graham. You'll find all sorts of useful topics too.
Links:
Every Christmas, Jon Gericke runs a midday special for two weeks, focussing on holiday fun. And I'm one of his regulars.
Every weekday for the two weeks from today, Monday 25 December through to Friday 5 January, the show runs from 12 noon till 1pm. The show is on SAfm, which can be found in South Africa on 104 to 107 fm, or on the web via streaming audio at Safm / Streaming Audio (hosted by Ant Farm).
I'll generally be on during the closing minutes of the show, cos Jon figures that we've had a long enough radio relationship (around 5 years or so, if my brain is estimating correctly) for him to cut me off fairly abruptly if he runs out of time. And he's right. I have no hassle with it. And anyway, I structure my chat with him in such a way that the important stuff is in the beginning, with embellishments coming in at the end. So I'm ready to shut my mouth at any time.
In this post, I'll give links every day to the sites I talk about.
I'll also be podcasting as many of my slots as I can... I recorded today's, but due to an 'operator error', only the first few seconds actually recorded. (Yes... I was the 'operator'. No idea what happened. It recorded five minutes of program BEFORE my bit. Then when I came on, it got jinxed. Blah.)
If you've got the time, I've got the inclination!* World time clocks to keep you from second-guessing.
A bunch of tools to help you with your multinational time-management.
Firstly, there's the freeware/shareware application, Qlock. It sits on your desktop, and is hugely configurable. So you can see what time it is anywhere in the world. You can set alarms for any of those cities. And you can hide or show the clocks with a click of your mouse.
Next in the list is a site for people who don't have a need for a clock on their desktops 24/7. If you have an occasional need to check times, this is the place to go... WorldTimeServer.com. This site also offers you a free widget to add to your blog... you can pop an analog or digital clock to your site.
And if you want to customise a countdown, and see the time displayed as days, hours, or seconds, head for TimeAndDate.com. As of this very second, I'll turn 50 years old in exactly... 382 363 170 seconds! Send me a birthday present. You've got time!
*Said the Leaning Tower of Piza to the Big Ben.
Links:
- Qlock: http://www.qlock.com/
- World Time Server: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/
- Time and Date: http://www.timeanddate.com/
- Podcast of this final episode of this year's Virtual Surf Report: WorldClocks.mp3
Thursday, 4 January 2007
The fine art of dusty car windows -- meet Scott Wade, dust artist extraordinaire
When I first came across the work of Scott Wade, I thought it was a prank. But a quick Google of his name yielded dozens of sites showing his work. He seems to be real!He's an American artist who works in a particularly transitory medium... the dust on car windows.
He waits for dust to accumulate, and then hacks at it with paintbrushes and such to remove bits of dust to make masterpieces.
Links:
- Scott Wade's Home Page: http://www.dirtycarart.com/
- Scott Wade's Dirty Car Art Gallery: http://www.dirtycarart.com/gallery/
- Footage from K-EYE 42 of Scott at work on a 'dirty picture': http://keyetv.com/video/?id=8499@keye.dayport.com
- A Google search that shows how wide-spread the dirt: Google search terms: 'Scott Wade Dirty Car Art'
- A story about Scott on Autoblog, which has some really cool pics: http://www.autoblog.com -- scott-wade
- The podcast of this episode of the Virtual Surf Report: ScottWade Dirt.mp3
Wednesday, 3 January 2007
Toddler-friendly videos online that'll 'blow your baby's mind'
Jeremiah McNichols has a brilliant blog called 'Z Recommends'. Z is his two-and-a-half year old daughter. And the blog is about the stuff that she likes and loves in the world.In this case, Jeremiah found animations by unusual or forgotten artists, and showed them to Z. And ranked them. Each artist gets a detailed description on the blog, and you can watch the videos yourself to make sure they're good for your kid.
Thanks to the editors of Drawn!, a blog 'devoted to illustration, art, cartooning and drawing'.
Links:
- Z Recommends: http://zrecs.blogspot.com/
- The five stories in the series, 'Innovative Filmmakers Who Will Blow Your Toddler's Mind':
- Part 1: Yuriy Norshteyn
- Part 2: Jiri Trnka
- Part 3: Norman Mclaren
- Part 4: Art Clokey
- Part 5: various music videos
- Think In Pictures: Adventures in Visual Education: http://thinkingpictures.blogspot.com
- Drawn!: http://drawn.ca/
- Podcast of this episode of the Virtual Surf Report: Aaaaaaargh! It DID record. I SAW it recording. I made SURE it was recording. And then when I pressed 'stop', the file disappeared. Dammit. Sorry about that.
Tuesday, 2 January 2007
Track your progress and boost your success on 'Joe's Goals'
The second day of 2007, and you've probably got some New Year's resolutions that you're still committed to. Here's a free online tool to help you do the things you want to do. Joe's Goals is a website that let's you define your positive and negative goals, and then track your progress. When you do something towards a goal, you click on the goal. And the online software keeps count.There's also a Joe's Logbook option, which is really a goal-tracking tool for a particular project.
For me, one of the best things about the site is that you can set it up to email you a reminder if you haven't updated your goals for a while. It really helps you to be mindful.
Links:
- Joe's Goals: http://www.joesgoals.com/
- Joe's Logbook: http://www.joeslogbook.com/
- Joe's Blog: http://blog.joesgoals.com/
- Podcast of this SAfm insert: Joe'sGoals.mp3
Monday, 1 January 2007
Resolved to get out of the rat race? Get some inspiration from 'Escape From Cubicle Nation'
Happy New Year! May it be filled with learning, loving, and laughing!And if one of your resolutions is to remove yourself from a job you hate, and to get into the wonderful world of entrepreneurship, then Pamela Slim's 'Escape From Cubicle Nation' is the blog for you.
Crammed with resources, ideas, inspiration, and interviews with successful escapees, you'll certainly find it useful.
What's more, the comments threads form an amazing network of people all set on the same course. International networking for the new entrepreneur. An instant mentor network, if you like.
Links:
- Escape From Cubicle Nation, the blog: http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/get_a_life_blog/
- Escape From Cubicle Nation, the free podcast: http://escapefromcubiclenation.libsyn.com/
- Info about Pamela: http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/about.html
- My podcast of the SAfm broadcast: Aaaaargh! It didn't record. Or, if it did, the file evaporated. Sigh. I apologise.
Friday, 29 December 2006
A free graphic novel online -- SHOOTING WAR -- my favourite read of 2006
Written by Anthony Lappé, drawn by Dan Goldman, SHOOTING WAR is a tangy, vicious, sexy, gritty, frighteningly-realistic depiction of a near future.In this gripping graphic novel, the main character is a guy who, using the video camera on his phone, accidentally vid-blogs a bombing. He's then catapulted to fame by a tv network who gets hold of his footage. They make him an offer he can't refuse... to go to the Middle East and vid-blog the ongoing war there.Beware... if you START reading this, you WILL spend several wonderful hours absorbed in the story!
Links:
- Shooting War: http://shootingwar.com/
- The First Chapter: http://shootingwar.com/chapters/chapter-1/
- Anthony Lappé's blog, 'The Bunker': http://anthony.gnn.tv/
- Dan Goldman's site: http://www.dangoldman.net/
- Podcast: ShootingWar.mp3
Thursday, 28 December 2006
Two views of a superpower... the left-wing 'Huffington Post', and the (obviously) right-wing 'Right Wing News'
In the interests of transparency, I have to state up-front that I'm a leftie. So I'm biased in favour of leftie things. That said, I'm also very much a 'devil's advocate'. I'm MUCH more interested in a balanced, well-argued opinion than I am in a one-sided opinion. So... to today's Virtual Surf Report.
We're looking at two news sources covering politics in America.I'm a fan of The Huffington Post, a left-wing journal that takes an in-depth look at many of the issues facing Americans today. I find their opinion pieces to be very cleanly written, well-researched, witty, and clever. When I finish reading one of their articles, I come away from it with the feeling that I'm not being fed some kind of propaganda angle.
I'm NOT a fan of Right Wing News, which is an online journal dedicated to 'Conservative News and Views'. I'm n ot a fan because I really just wish they would ARGUE their points sanely and rationally. I don't really get any sense of balance from their articles. I'm left with a feeling that I've been smacked over the head with a hunting rifle. They sneer at the left, instead of answering their concerns. However, it's deeply important to get acquainted with 'the other side'. Their fears are real. Their concerns are real. Just because they don't argue them well doesn't mean they should be dismissed.
Two fascinating reads. Enjoy being caught in the middle! And make up your own mind.
(And for some help in being able to make up your own mind, you might want to read an article from one of my favourite books on thought hygiene. The book is called STRAIGHT AND CROOKED THINKING by Robert H Thouless. It appears to be out of print, but the article on the web is the core of it. It's titled 'Thirty-eight Dishonest Tricks Which Are Commonly Used in Argument, With the Methods of Overcoming Them'. A must-read.)
Links:
- The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
- Right Wing News: http://www.rightwingnews.com/
- 38 Dishonest Tricks: http://www.246.dk/38tricks.html
- Podcast: Right and Left Wing US Politics.mp3
Wednesday, 27 December 2006
The quirky humour (and marketing savvy) of GapingVoid
Hugh MacLeod's GapingVoid blog is one of those must-reads. His quirky business card cartoons are a treat, and you can insert a widget onto your website to feed them to your own viewers.Read Hugh's blog if you want to:
- Be more creative.
- Become a better marketer.
- Have wine and suits shoved down your throat via the eyeballs.
- Laugh.
- Groan.
- Nod your head in agreement.
- Change your mind.
- GapingVoid: http://www.gapingvoid.com/
- Hugh MacLeod's marketing manifesto, The Hughtrain: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000823.html
- Hugh's inspiring manifesto on 'How To Be Creative': http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000932.html
- Get the cartoon widget for your site: http://www.gapingvoid.com/widget/
- Podcast: GapingVoid.mp3
Tuesday, 26 December 2006
Print a better present for yourself with Flickr and Creative Commons
Someone gave you a present you don't really WANT? Replace it with something that works for you!Enter Flickr, the photo sharing site, in collaboration with Creative Commons. You can browse through around 26 million photos that are licensed under one of the Creative Commons variations that allows any user to download the photo, take it to their favourite photo printing outlet (where you would take your digital pics to be printed), and make an art print to adorn your walls (or even a t-shirt, if you're adventurous).
Links:
- Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/
- Flickr's Creative Commons search section: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
- My own Flickr gallery of digital artworks that you're welcome to download and print: http://www.flickr.com/photos/royblumenthal/
- Flickr photo finder: http://www.wynia.org/experiments/phpflickr/interesting.php?
- Podcast: Flickr_and_Creative_Commons.mp3
Monday, 25 December 2006
Change This
This is a site dedicated to challenging the way ideas are created and spread. In their words: 'We're on a mission to spread important ideas and change minds.'
On the site, you'll find free, downloadable manifestos on a whole host of topics. Here's their definition of a manifesto: 'It's an argument, a reasoned, rational call to action, supported by logic and facts.' My definition of their manifestos is this: 'Interesting, fascinating, entertaining, thought-provoking knowledge-snapshots.'
One of my favourite manifestos of the moment is The Power of the Marginal by Paul Graham. You'll find all sorts of useful topics too.
Links:
- Change This -- http://www.changethis.com/
- Change This Newsletter -- http://blog.changethis.com/changethis_newsletter/
- 'Best of 2006' Change This manifestos -- Change This: Reflecting on 2006
- Change This Frequently Asked Questions -- http://www.changethis.com/content/faq
Every Christmas, Jon Gericke runs a midday special for two weeks, focussing on holiday fun. And I'm one of his regulars.
Every weekday for the two weeks from today, Monday 25 December through to Friday 5 January, the show runs from 12 noon till 1pm. The show is on SAfm, which can be found in South Africa on 104 to 107 fm, or on the web via streaming audio at Safm / Streaming Audio (hosted by Ant Farm).
I'll generally be on during the closing minutes of the show, cos Jon figures that we've had a long enough radio relationship (around 5 years or so, if my brain is estimating correctly) for him to cut me off fairly abruptly if he runs out of time. And he's right. I have no hassle with it. And anyway, I structure my chat with him in such a way that the important stuff is in the beginning, with embellishments coming in at the end. So I'm ready to shut my mouth at any time.
In this post, I'll give links every day to the sites I talk about.
I'll also be podcasting as many of my slots as I can... I recorded today's, but due to an 'operator error', only the first few seconds actually recorded. (Yes... I was the 'operator'. No idea what happened. It recorded five minutes of program BEFORE my bit. Then when I came on, it got jinxed. Blah.)
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
VIA Announces EPIA Mini-ITX Platform for x86 Consumer Electronics
VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, today announced the VIA EPIA EX-Series Mini-ITX mainboards, the first of VIA’s compact platforms to feature the new VIA CX700M2 system media processor. Powered by the highly efficient 1.5GHz or fanless 1.0GHz VIA C7® processor, the VIA EPIA EX has an average operating power consumption of just 13.6 watts.
Specifically designed for the fast-growing x86-based consumer electronics market, the VIA EPIA EX mainboard features full consumer I/O, including ports for composite, component and S-Video, S/PDIF audio, and onboard connectors for LVDS and DVI displays, with USB2.0 and IEEE1394 peripheral connectivity, full featured SATA II RAID, and 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet for seamless broadband connectivity, with a Gigabit Ethernet option.
The VIA EPIA EX also boasts the VIA CX700M2 advanced system media processor, an all-in-one digital media IGP chipset integrating the VIA UniChrome™ Pro II 2D/3D graphics core and an extended array of high end video and audio technologies, including hardware decoding acceleration of MPEG-2/-4 and WMV9 video, a built-in HDTV encoder up to 1080i, 720p output, and VIA Vinyl Multi-channel HD audio for a richer listening experience.
“We see the consumer electronics market increasingly adopting the x86 platform for the extra performance and comprehensive compatibility with all popular media formats, and the fully integrated, off the shelf VIA EPIA EX fills this need perfectly,” said Daniel Wu, Assistant Vice President, VIA Platform Solutions Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. “Leveraging the power efficient VIA processors and the extensive feature set of the VIA CX700M2 media system processor, the VIA EPIA EX speaks directly to the demands of CE developers.”
Combining such a range of leading-edge features and the richly integrated VIA silicon platform onto an ultra compact mainboard reduces the need for add-in cards and compatibility testing, greatly reducing time to market and significantly lowering the total cost of development for SIs and OEMs.
The VIA EPIA EX mainboard will be on show at the Lunch@Piero’s press event from Jan 8-9 during CES 2007.
More details about the VIA EPIA EX-series Mini-ITX mainboard may be found on the VIA website, while information on the VIA CX700M system media processor can be found here.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
5 Reasons Why the PS3 Isn’t Selling
Families want to play together.
All my friends have a 360.
Nobody cares about Blu-ray.
PS2 is too strong.
$600 for a DVD player?
Read the details behind the thinking here...
All my friends have a 360.
Nobody cares about Blu-ray.
PS2 is too strong.
$600 for a DVD player?
Read the details behind the thinking here...
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Next Generation Gaming Wars
So which gaming console will be the dominant one when the FIFA World Cup comes to South Africa? A website is asking for your opinion AND is showing which console is being sold the most. NextGen Wars is tracking, real-time, the sales of the Wii, the Xbox 360 and the PS3. So far, the XBox is way in the lead with sales but more than half of the votes for the winner are going to the Wii. Put up your vote and see the sales at NextGen Wars.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
How the web made cleaning dirty
Ever thought of hiring a naked cleaner? At first glance, this isn't the kind of question that occurs to many people. But a recent survey of online commerce showed that some of the most successful internet adverts - in terms of responses - were ads for 'nude' or 'fantasy' cleaners.
There are now thousands of people offering these services across the developed world. Some people find these fantasy housemaids (or naked plumbers - these services are just as popular with women) so alluring they get hooked. A few weeks ago an English ex-magistrate, Michael Lee, admitted he had turned to crime: to fund hi £250,000 naked cleaning ladies habit. Of course, he found them online.
And this is the crux. The net is changing sex.More from The First Post...
The new Skype is GREAT!
Let me start by saying that Skype aren't paying a cent for this review. I could only wish.
I have just downloaded the latest update for Skype 3.0 and it rocks. But why, I hear you ask, what makes it so good?
1st, I love the free calls to the whole world at local call prices. No matter what Telkom and the new people try and do, they will NEVER beat those prices. The calls are made with such ease that you simply push a button and it works. I have also just bought a new headset with built-in microphone, so making calls is even easier.
The newest feature that I LOVE is when Skype asked me to import all of my contacts from Outlook. Not only did it do that, but it checked to see if any of those contacts were already on the Skype database. Of the 200 odd people I have on my list, 50 were already on Skype, without me knowing. OK, most of them probably won't use Skype as much as I will, but it's good to know that I can call them for FREE when I have to.
I still have a couple of issues about Skype. Why can't I buy airtime in my local currency? If you can do business in South Africa, then let me pay in South African. Euros and Pounds and Dollars are very confusing. Either that, or work it out for me please.
You can find out more about Skype here or you can contact me on my Skype address.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)