So I started reading a new blog lately that caught my eye after he linked to us. I’ll admit it - I didn’t know his blog existed until he linked to one of my blogs, but that’s besides the point.

Now that I know about his blog, I’ve started reading through some of his past stuff, and I’m sucked in. His points are strong and even if I don’t agree with everything he says, he still has a point on his opinion which I can respect.

Well he’s decided to split up his blogs between 2 sites now. Crazy people, don’t you have better things to do with your time but to blog on various websites?! (Granny voice-out) but apparently I have too much time on my hands because now I’m reading both sites.

So he just posted a blog regarding the format wars between blu-ray, hd-dvds, etc. Even if you don’t know much about the background of these, the blog is fun and interesting to read and you seriously should check it out.

…Anyway, however it happened, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are both destined to fall by the wayside in 2-3 years. Neither has cornered the market, and all the talk about “the format war” is so old and common that people have grown tired of it. Most of your potential customers are ignoring you now. And the ones who are still paying attention aren’t going to buy while they can only buy half the movies they want on either format…

Click here to read the entire blog.

Inbabble is reporting an interview with Matt Turetzky regarding the various games being released on their incredible success with mobile gaming. First notable mention brings local OGR amusement due to it’s name, Luxor 2. It is a shame that our very own Luxx doesn’t even use a cellphone, so he’s not even able to get in on the fun of playing a game which is so close to his own name.

So what’s new at RealNetworks as far as games go?
Turetzky: We are very excited about our three new mobile games launches this Q4. Coming first, in October, was Luxor 2, our second game based on one of the best selling PC games of all time. The Luxor brand has been downloaded over 60 million times on the PC and we are very pleased to be able to bring it to mobile gamers. We launched the first Luxor mobile game last year and it was our best selling game of 2006. The new version features all new levels and power-ups and much sharper design and effects, thanks to the capabilities of the newer handsets.

The interview is quite informative and interesting regardless of their website fubars. You should seriously check it out and see what they have to say regarding the mobile gaming industry. Click Here to read the full Q&A.

“Heart Scan,” a new video game from Sega Corp., uses the microphone on Nintendo Co.’s hit portable to analyze people’s voices for a range of feelings — calm, jittery, happy, disappointed, angry.

Numbers, drawings, charts and words pop up on the screen: “The speaker more or less likes you,” or “The speaker is agitated.”

If a person reads a list of words, “rendezvous, extramarital affair, living together, divorce, marriage,” the software shows which rattles nerves much like a lie-detector test, Sega says.

But developers warn against jumping to conclusions about someone’s actions, such as infidelity, just because a voice sounds nervous.

Unfortunately, this has only been released to Japan, but I’m sure the US market will be keeping its eyes open for its arrival.

( read more… )

The Tawan company, Acer, has announced their plans to acquire the United States computer company, Gateway Inc. for $710 million which will result in Acer being the worlds third largest vendor for personal computers.

The acquisition has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Gateway and Acer.

“This strategic transaction is an important milestone in Acer’s long history,” said J.T. Wang, Acer’s chairman, in the statement. “This will be an excellent addition to Acer’s already strong positions in Europe and Asia.”

Ed Coleman, chief executive of Gateway, welcomed the buyout.

“Joining with Acer will enable us to bring even more value to the consumer segments we serve and capitalize on Acer’s highly regarded supply chain operations and global reach,” he said in the statement.

( read more… )

Google has released today the flip-side of their popular satellite driven application Google earth. Instead of zooming from space to the planet earth, you can now zoom from the earth to the sky - or rather the starts to be more exact.

This update, isn’t really being called “Google Sky” instead, it’s just an update to the Google Earth - version 4.2

With about a hundred million stars and two hundred million galaxies, Sky in Google Earth lets you explore the heavens like never before.

Viewing the sky is just as easy as clicking “Sky” and Google Earth will display the stars as shown directly above the position that you were viewing of the earth. The sky functionality even goes so far as to include the ability to view as seen from the hubble telescope and to give you further detailed information about what you’re viewing. This sounds like an astronomer’s or even a teacher’s new favorite tool.

Check it out, at the main Google Earth website.