Whatnot Archive

  • Four percent of American gamers are pirates~!

    Four percent of American gamers are pirates~!

    Four percent of U.S. gamers admit to pirating video games, according to a new NPD report that apparently we're not cool enough to get directly from the NPD. I'm going to guess that more than one of you fall into that four percent.

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  • Are you a small business? Do you want Windows 7 for 50 percent off? You can have that!

    Are you a small business? Do you want Windows 7 for 50 percent off? You can have that!

    Microsoft has devised a way to induce people to upgrade from old versions of Windows (XP, Vista, and the like) to the shiny, new Windows 7. And what would that be? Oh, you know, 50 percent off the cost of a license for small-to-mid-size businesses. That means Windows 7 Professional upgrade for $35.

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  • Why are people falling victim to Facebook scams?

    Why are people falling victim to Facebook scams?

    The beauty of essentially quitting social networking, as I have, is that I don't have to worry about all of the associated nonsense. “Facebook's new privacy settings cause uproar.” Really? Not if you quit the site it doesn't. “Malicious programs causing social network malaise.” Again, not an issue if you're not all-consumed with tweeting every 10 seconds about what you're eating for breakfast.

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  • World of Warcraft’s new dungeon finder just made life worth living again

    World of Warcraft’s new dungeon finder just made life worth living again

    For me, the best part of Patch 3.3 in World of Warcraft is the new dungeon finder. I've used it a bunch in the past couple of days, and can say this: PUGing is now fun (though it'll change the way we look at guilds).

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  • JVC has two more sound bars from you to pick from: TH-BA3 and TH-BS7

    JVC has two more sound bars from you to pick from: TH-BA3 and TH-BS7

    Didn't Nickelodeon used to give away JVC boomboxes and whatnot on its game shows back in the day? (I'm primarily talking to twenty-somethings here, yes.) Imagine you were a contestant on Double Dare, and you manage to find the flag inside the big nose filled with goo, and you win this, the TH-BA3. It's a sound bar, which are a heck of a lot easier to incorporate into a small space than a complete surround sound system.

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  • $30: Perfect-for-Google-navigation Motorola Droid car dock

    $30: Perfect-for-Google-navigation Motorola Droid car dock

    The Motorola Droid, on Verizon Wireless, is, by all accounts, pretty OK. That's fair to say, no? Yes, I believe it is. What's lame, though totally to be expected, is that it'll cost you $30 for a car kit. And you'd want said car kit in order to make that Google navigation application really fly.

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  • CrunchDeals: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash-Up for $30 (Wii)

    CrunchDeals: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash-Up for $30 (Wii)

    If you're into button-mashing melee games a la Super Smash Brothers and whatnot, then perhaps you'd enjoy a change of scenery and fighters with our old friends the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

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  • How to use RSS to automatically download anything from Usenet

    How to use RSS to automatically download anything from Usenet

    It’s the tree of life, and for no particular reason, either. As a corollary to Biggs’ “cable companies are doomed” article from earlier today, I thought I’d demonstrate how easy it is to accomplish what he was threatening. That is, live a happy and successful life without having to pay $100+ a month to Comcast, Time [...]

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  • Here’s some info about Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony multiplayer

    Here’s some info about Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony multiplayer

    Not that any of you noticed, but I've been AFK for the past few days, so I've totally missed out on all the Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony videos and screenshots that have hit my inbox. I'm fixing that right now.

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  • Will Project Natal be anything more than a glorified tech demo? Here’s hoping!

    Will Project Natal be anything more than a glorified tech demo? Here’s hoping!

    Maybe I'm speaking for the minority here, but I have to get this off my chest: Project Natal is sorta “meh,” no? I attended Popular Mechanics' Breakthrough Awards for a few minutes last night, and they had on display Project Natal. It was that paint-throwing game. Now, I know that's just a tech demo, but I left feeling a little concerned about its future.

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  • Apps for Blackberry cost way more than iPhone, Android apps

    Apps for Blackberry cost way more than iPhone, Android apps

    We've covered a couple of Distimo reports in the past because they provide us with some valuable insights on Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market based on the startup's in-depth analysis of publicly available data. Now the company has added RIM’s Blackberry App World store to the fray, which gives us even more data points to compare the rivals' app pricing and whatnot. In the latest report (September 2009), Distimo notes software programs for Blackberry devices are considerably more expensive than comparable apps for competing devices/platforms. In fact, the average price for apps is more than three times higher than the one for similar apps in the App Store and Android Market, which is sort of unbelievable. There's not a single category where the average price of an app is lower than its equivalent on the latter two application storefronts, and the more serious, business-related tools are definitely much more expensive. (chart after the jump)

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  • Video game addiction is hard

    Video game addiction is hard

    Good God. There's an article that was published on Green Pixels not too long ago that discussed video game addiction. It's your standard-issue “question” piece, where the writer asks a question—can video games be addictive?—and goes to a variety of experts, be they doctors, industry executives, and whatnot, and tries to ascertain their opinion. What's insane, however, is this retort (of sorts) by Neils Clark, who co-wrote the book Game Adiction: The Experience and the Effects, which was published in May. He also teaches at Digipen.

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  • How long will we be playing the Xbox 360 and PS3?

    How long will we be playing the Xbox 360 and PS3?

    Questing in Kalimdor, I received word that, yes, the Wii has dropped in price to $199. After I logged out, I got to thinking: how long can this last? Like, the Wii (and the PS3) came out three years ago, and the Xbox 360 came out four years ago. Given how quickly consumer electronics evolve, how long we can expect to play these systems?

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  • Trip Glasses promise fast track to meditation, hallucination

    Trip Glasses promise fast track to meditation, hallucination

    There are numerous health benefits brought about by daily meditation but, let's face it, who has time to sit quietly with a clear mind until you reach a harmonious enough state to access the Akashic Records any more? Not me! I'm a blogger! So it's nice to know that there's a bullet train to Bliss Junction in the form of this $40 "Sound & Light Brain-Machine" from ThinkGeek.

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  • The big Xbox 360 Dashboard update is waiting for you

    The big Xbox 360 Dashboard update is waiting for you

    When you get home from work today, or get out of bed, the Xbox 360 Dashboard update will be ready to go. (I'm holding out on updating for a few days; I'm no man's guinea pig!) It's pretty exciting.

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