• Apple Stores (Online and Off) Out of iPhones
• For the past week and a half the Apple Stores have been out of iPhones.
• Does this mean that the much rumored 3G 2nd Generation iPhone is on its way or is it just manufacturing issues?
• So what does a 3G iPhone mean?
• Faster internet on what is probably the world's best mobile browser
• Better call quality
• Ability to surf the net while on a phone call (well you can do this on AT&T's 3G network, will the iPhone interface allow it?)
  

• HBO Shows come to iTunes Store (aka Death of Fixed Pricing)
• This past week, HBO and Apple reached a deal to bring HBO shows to the iTunes Store.
• This also marks the end of Apple's "fixed" pricing strategy on TV shows. Previously all TV shows were $1.99. Now with the HBO shows, some are $2.99 ("Deadwood" and "Sorpanos")
• Available shows include: "Sex and the City", "Sorpranos", "Rome", "Deadwood", "Flight of the Conchords", and "The Wire"
• This could soon usher in the return of NBC shows such as "Heroes" and "The Office" as the fixed pricing was one of the major reasons for NBC not renewing their iTunes Store contract.
  

Web Picks

• YouTube Format Hacking
  
• "Watch this video in higher quality." links all over Youtube
  
• Low and High Qualities now (HQ = 480 x 360 + 44 Khz audio ~ 900 Kbps)
• &fmt=6 = HQ : flash sorenson codec.
  
• Format 18 generates an mp4 (&fmt=18) - Compatible with IPOD. True Stereo. h.264 codec
• Embed High Quality videos, replace (VIDEO EMBED URL) with video ID:
  
• Video Keepers still work (keepvid)
• LifeHacker is a firefox Extension
  
• AC3 Codec - Play surround sound movies and audio files for FREE
  

• AMOD GPS Logger

• Review 1
  
• Review 2
  
• Takes three AAA batteries
• Mac, PC, and Linux
  
• Bundled with JetPhoto (not Pro)
• Tools:
• Convert from NMEA format to GPX format using:
• GPS Photo Linker
• HoudahGeo (Mac)
• Pair down big files with GPSBabel
• Flickr, Mappr, Google Earth,
  
• Most GPS loggers just get position, altitude and speed, this one gets position, altitude, speed, heading, acquired satellites, hdop and vdop
• HDOP and VDOP = Horizontal/Vertical Dilution of Precision
• JDome - Interview with John Nilsson

• DExpose2 - Expose for Windows
• Finally, someone brought Derek's favorite Mac OSX feature to Windows, and did it right
• Expose is a feature on Mac OSX that allows you to shrink all the windows open so that they are all displayed on your desktop. This allows you to find the window your looking for real quick with out having to Alt-Tab a ton of times or go through each window. On the Mac, it looks really nice
• This little utility which is free (our favorite price) installs and does exactly as advertised
• World Wide Telescope
• Think Google Maps but for the skies (and done by Microsoft)
• This little application made professional blogger/social media expert Robert Scoble cry
• Currently Windows only
• This thing is pretty cool. You can point to a point and space and it will zoom in
• There are tons of pre-defined coordinates to take you to several galaxies, stars, black holes, and even a couple of nebula.
• The up side here is if you have an ASCOM compatible telescope, you can connect it to your computer and use WWT to help you navigate the night skies
  

• Koby out sick with Strep throat
  • Most sore throat's are viral infections and go away in a few days
  • Only a small portion are bacterial infections, its highly contagious, and spreads via air, surfaces.
  • Stopping medication early may lead to recurrences and serious complications, such as rheumatic fever or kidney inflammation.
• Microsoft (MSFT) withdraws the nearly $47.5B takeover bid for Yahoo! (YHOO)
  • Unsolicited bid by Microsoft (MSFT) to takeover Yahoo! (YHOO)
  • Announced in February
  • First offer $31, second $33, Y! wanted $37
  • All over for Yahoo? Said to be in talks with Google (GOOG), News Corp.'s MySpace.com (NWS), and Time Warner (TWX)
  • Google's shares rose $13.61
  • Take a look at this compare of MSFT, YHOO, GOOG, NWS, and TWX all together
    
• Skip an Ad? Not if you picked it
  • Hulu.com (Show #73)
  • Commercial Contests (T-Mobile NBA)
  • Al Gore's CurrentTV created VCAM = Viewer Created Advertising Messages
  • Targetted advert = more attention (see spike tv and G4)

• Microsoft Expands Zune Store and Updates Player
  • New software features and content to their all-in-one media store
  • "South Park", "Afro Samurai", "Battlestar Galactica", "The Ultimate Fighter", "Robot Chicken"
  • Approx. 160 Microsoft points per show ($1.99)
  • Subscription model available, $14.99 per month
  • New Store Software features
    • Drag and drop Zune cards (cards = friends playlists) to zune and they will be updated in real-time
    • Zune Pass Subscribers will automatically have friends songs downloaded to their zune
    • Non-Subscribers will have album art and information dl'ed only
    • Enhanced friends features (bio, location, etc)
    • Instant Friends - Media Moguls will automatically become friends for instant content and playlists
    • Album reviews (a la Amazon)
    • Reputation badges (a la ebay)
    • Windows Live Messenger will now pick up what ppl are listening to on Zune
  • Hardware Software updates
    • Auto playlists - Users can create an auto playlist that updates itself automatically as new music is added.
    • Browse videos - Consumers can browse their video collection by genre and series, plus they can preview videos before they play them on full screen.
    • Editing album and track information - Users are able to edit track or album information (metadata) quickly via multi-select and drag-and-drop. The advanced metadata editing features make it easy to edit multiple tracks or survey albums and artist information
    • Organizing collections - In addition to sorting by artist or album, consumers can now sort by genre. While browsing by genre they can further sort music by artist, album or release year.
    • Gapless playback - Consumers will now be able to listen to an album without the brief gap between tracks, both on their Zune and in the Zune software. This is a must-have for live-concert recordings and compilation albums.
    • Syncing groups - Zune software now syncs to multiple Zune players simultaneously. Users can prepare which content on their computer to sync even when their Zune isn’t connected - Consumers can create custom sync groups for music, pictures and videos.
    • Zune reminders - Experience is improved when a Zune player’s memory is nearing capacity, via an easy-to-use tool.

Web Picks

• Twitterholic.com
• Ranks the top 100 of the Twitter world
• Its ordered by popularity (read: followers)
• It also shows # of friends, and # of updates
• Barack Obama is #1 at the moment, check out his stats4
• Steven Molen is officially part of the twitter craze
• TwitDir (A Twitter Directory)
  
  • Look up anyone on Twitter by name, screen name, or location
  • Get the top 100 followed (just like Twitterholic.com)
  • Get the top 100 updaters
  • Get the top 100 favouriters
  • Get the top 100 followers
  • Get the top 10, 100, or 1000 requirements
    • Find out how many friends, followers, updates, and/or favorites you'd have to add to make it to the top 10, 100, or 1000 of Twitter

• Blackberry 9000
  

• Software that make you Smarter
  

• GTA IV - It's all the rage (They were talking about it on the First team on Fox Sports Show this morning)
  • The only game you can pay a hooker, hook it up, kick her out of your car, drive over her, and retrieve the money laying right beside her after you're done
  • You too can date a cyber byte with the ultimate goal of a shag fest, in a main stream game no less
  • Niko, an immigrant, is your single player anti-hero
  • Rockstar's RAGE engine coupled with NaturalMotion's Euphoria engine to produce outstanding graphics and natural kinesthesiology and Physics
  • Everything accessed from your phone - IMs, Missions, Multiplayer, hookers, etc
  • Online modes - 12 different types
  • Party lobby is outskirts of city with guns and cars to keep you occupied while waiting for friends
    • Free Mode (fully customizable with cops and all)
    • Team DeathMatch - cover system makes this not like quake
    • Mafiya Work - work to order from mob boss. first to complete gets the points
    • Car Jack City - Jack specific cars for points
    • Turf War - capture the point
    • GTA Race - Standard racing game
    • Cops'n'Crooks - 2 teams, lawmen and crooks. Lawmen trying to stop the crooks from escaping
    • Limited co-op - play with up to 4 friends