FRIDAY MORNING LITE


HMMMMMM .... PIZZAAAAA
MSN has the winners of the nation's best pizza. Click on the city and buono nitale!

THE FOLLOWING YOU WILL SEE, IS TRUE, THE NAMES WERE CHANGED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT
Who would've thought that a cellphone could be a tool in the war on crime, but as TINA found out, she could bring her muggers to justice by posting to her audio blog.


TIVO = ON DEMAND IN HI DEMAND
How do you spell "must see tv?" This holiday season, it's T-I-V-O as DirecTV-TIVO boxes are flying off the shelves.

Meanwhile, via Leoville, here's a report that online shopping raked in a whopping $8.5 BILLION in online sales! Music, books, and DVDs lead the way. That's a nice chunk of change as up to 70% of shoppers will try online shopping this year.

To learn more about online shopping, go here.


I'M READY FOR MY CLOSEUP, MR. CASE
MacRumors reports that AOL is going to a video instant messenger option.


ALL iPOD, ALL THE TIME
Get the most out of your Pod with "IpodHead."

And for a more colorful ipod experience, go here.

In related news, FORTUNE MAG names iTunes "Product of the Year!" We couldn't agree more. But without iPod, would it be?

GETTING HOSED IN THE GREAT WHITE NORTH
Canuks may have to pay up to a 20% tax on their MP3 players and accesories! Take off, eh!

OPEN SOURCE HARDWARE?
The world's first "open source PC" is being unveiled Monday, promising open source OS running on open source processors. I don't know what that means, but it has to make Bill Gates and Steve Jobs worry. And that's a good thing.


USELESS, YET COOL GADGET OF THE YEAR - THE OCTODOG!
Now you can own a gadget that turns your frank into a seagoing invertibrate. Perfect for "AS SEEN ON TV."

AH, THE MEMORIES
Red Baron, Defender, Joust, and, of course, Battlezone. We all wish we had the quarters we dumped into the video games of the 80s. Now you can enjoy them on the net with Norbert's Emulators, a JAVA emulator of classic arcade games. And it's free!


HEADS UP HOGGIN'
From The Giz: Now you can get a Heads up display (HUD) for your motorcycle helmet. Hey! I want one for my CAR!

NO CLEVER WAY TO SAY HERE'S THE THURSDAY NEWS

NOT SO MUST SEE TV
According to TECHDIRT, several current studies on television viewing habits suggest that the audience is bored and are choosing to spend their time on the internet, watching DVDs and playing video games.

Meanwhile, Hollywood agents are picking up on this, realizing that the latest "flavor of the month" may not be a Hollywood starlet or a hot new filmmaker, but a video game maker who can land them big money with games tied into movies. This may be due to the suits who grew up playing games, and as such. consider it a more legit anscilliary market than their pre-80s predascessors.

ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL ... THEN WHAT?
News that LORD OF THE RINGS director Peter Jackson may be considering THE HOBBIT prequel as one of his next projects has prompted some Rings fans to start without him.

SEX SELLS
As it drove the video market before it, there's money to be made in the porn biz. In Cybespace. And CNN TECH has a story of a web entrepreneur who can teach you to get your "piece" of the pie.

NO DUMPING HERE
With eWaste is a huge concern every year, Microsoft does the Lord's work by showing us how to RECYCLE our old electronica, rather than merely dump it.


WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO TODAY?
THE GIZ has a story of how executives can mount their laptops to the wheels of their cars. Laptops, cellphones, DVD players ... anyone understand the notion of DRIVING WHILE DISTRACTED?!

PHASERS ON STUN
Scientsts have figured out how to stop light cold.

A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
It seems that most of the consumer electronics industry is willing to do whatever Hollywood tells them in order to get the sacred movie tie-in - even if it puts a strangle hold on their industry. Only Phillips seems to think that ideas like the broadcast flag are just plain bad.

HUMP DAY NEWS


TECH TUESDAY: ONLINE SHOPPING
With up to 70% of holiday shoppers choosing to do some of their shopping online, rather than at the mall, this primer is rather timely.


WHY WE SHOULD GO BACK TO THE MOON
Global Unity. Alternative sources of energy. Technological Advancement. Even Space tourism. Space.Com makes the case.


FULL CIRCLE
Remember "CircleVision" at Disneyland - where you could take a trip around San Francisco on a fire engine through the streets of San Francisco - and look around and see everything? Well, SONY has developed a cool 360° Full-Circle Lens Video Camera. Wedding Videos will never be the same.

TIVO SMACKDOWN
Slashdot is reporting that TIVO is threatening some of it's users with lawsuits. Seems that hosting backup image files of the box software is a no-no. Those who are looking to transfer their TIVO OS to a larger hard drive, or need to recover it from a crash, may be violating that dreaded DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act). Course, you can sell it, you just can offer it for free. HUH?

HOW STUFF WORKS: THE CAPACITOR
Live and learn. Share with the rest of the class.


iPRICING
The Giz has a theory why iPod's cost what they do. The Short Answer? IT'S AN APPLE PRODUCT! DUH.

OOPS
It was quietly announced, but it seems that the Manhattan Power Blackout earlier this year may have been a result of a military test to support the War on Terror. Oops.

Okay, I've settled down on going back to the moon. But I'm still stoked about it! Anyone see Battlestar Galactica last night on SciFi? By the Lords of Kobol! This ain't your daddy's Galactica, that's for sure!

Now, onto the news (which ain't much).

IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE CYBERSPACE


SOME UP, SOME DOWN .... PRICES FOR THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
CNN Money has a fun article about how much it would actually cost to give your "true love" the Twelve Days of Christmas. While some prices are down from last year, most are up - with a total rise of 18%.

Get an iPod, it's cheaper.


SPAM, WONDERFUL SPAM ... NO MORE?
Congress has passed the "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act." "W" is expected to sign it before New Year's. But will it work?


'98 BYE, BYE
Redmond is retiring WINDOWS `98. They say it's to comply with their Sun/Java settlement, but let's face it. They're cutting lose the dead wood in order to get people upgraded to XP before Longhorn comes out.


DO YOU, YAHOO?!
Yahoo is trying to get all email clients to sign on to a new EMAIL VERIFICATION concept which would reject unverified and forged SPAM. Great idea, if it works.


STILL NOT GETTING IT
Though suveys show the market would support more online downloads of music at .79 a song, the RIAA says "no way, Jose." You know, they could keep trying to get them for FREE. But who needs market forces and more music purchases when you can earn your music profits the old fashioned way ... IN COURT.

Meanwhile, in a Rolling Stone interview, Apple Chairman Steve Jobs puts it plainly - you can't protect digital content because of the internet and you can't shut down the internet. So, if you can't beat `em - join `em - and steer their downloading habits in the right direction, instead.

BACK TO THE MOON!

MONDAY, MONDAY

Everyone must be talking about how USC is getting the total hosejob today in the BCS, because electronica-wise, there isn't much folks. Normally we have a ton of news, but so far, this is all we've found that looks interesting:

KAAZA LITE BEING DISCONTINUED

Whether it's due to pressure of the RIAA's campaign of terror, simply better P2P apps coming on line, or the fact that they actually make money off the spyware attached to conventional KAAZA, Sharman Ntworks has announced that it is systematically eliminating all mirror sites for the "lite" version of KAAZA .

IMOVIE 3.5 COMING
Digital Video Apple fans have a major upgrade to iMovie coming out next month. Version 3.5. But as of press time, there are no details what whistles, bells, or improvements it has.

GIVING THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
With up to 70% of shoppers doing their Christmas Shopping online this year, the Gray Ole Lady has a story about REGIFTING ONLINE. The way it works is that when someone buys you a gift online, the store will send you an email saying you're getting the gift and asking if you want it, or if you want to pass it on to someone else.

Just in time for Christmas!