Filed under: Audio/Video, Computers, Video Games, TV

Online virtual worlds are taking over. It would seem as though World of Warcraft and Second Life are cultish phenomena inhabited primarily by the uber-dorky, but if mainstream television is an indicator, things are changing.

Recently, ‘South Park‘ aired an episode in which much of the animation was modified in-game footage from World of Warcraft, while ‘The Simpsons’ parodied the virtual world in an episode in which Bart and Marge become engrossed in an online role playing world called Earthland Realms.

Second Life isn’t left out of the party either: ‘Law and Order:SVU‘ chased a rapist through a fictional virtual world called AY, and, in the October 25th episode of ‘The Office,‘ Dwight Schrute explores Second Life proclaiming his desire to calculate an exchange rate for Linden Dollars (the currency in Second Life) for Schrute Bucks.

The most inventive tie in is coming soon from an upcoming episode of ‘CSI: NY,‘ in which a killer escapes into the world of Second Life. The episode will end with a cliffhanger and pick up in the the virtual world of Second Life, where viewers will be able to help solve the case in a virtual crime lab. In the Spring, the show will pick up where the virtual story line leaves off.

Already, ‘The Office’ has created its own social networking site / virtual world called Dunder Mifflin Infinity, where branches of the fictional paper company hire employees and compete for Schrute bucks. Sadly, at the moment, the site is barely functional and some have speculated that it’s one big ironic joke.

From Virtual Worlds News and Information Week

Related Links:

• Online Game More Populous Than NYC
• Virtual Barbie World Sees Meteoric Rise
• Second Life Virtual Bank Collapses, Losses at $750K

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Filed under: Cameras

If you’re anything like us, you’re hands are a little shaky, thanks to years of manic video game sessions and text-messaging away on tiny keypads. If you’re also a serious photographer, though, you’re in luck, since Olympus’ new top-tier digital SLR camera has some integrated technology that’s aimed at those with shaky hands. The new Olympus E3 is the latest “prosumer” entry from Olympus, meaning it’s a camera ostensibly good enough for professionals, but easy enough to use and priced at a point where some serious amateur shooters can swing.

Mind you, when we say serious, we mean someone willing to spend $1,699 on a camera without a lens! That’s the estimated street price on this thing when it drops in November.

For that price, you’ll get just the E3 itself, a 10-megapixel SLR camera body. SLR (single-lens reflex) technically means that the viewport looks directly through the glass of the lens, but in the world of digital cameras it generally means a shooter that has swappable lenses. So, yes, your $1,699 camera won’t be any good without some equally expensive glass on the end, but the E3 itself will deliver one feature typically only found in high-end SLR lenses: image stabilization (IS). IS means compensation for your shaky hands to produce a blur-free image, and the E3 has it built right in. This means all of its lenses can compensate for a little unintentional twitch. Most comparable SLRs, like those from Canon and Nikon, require that you buy higher-end IS lenses … or carry around a tripod or monopod wherever you go.

Interestingly, the E3 also supports both the traditional CompactFlash style memory card, the standard for most SLRs, and the smaller xD-style card Olympus has been pushing. However, given that xD cards currently top out at just two-gigabytes (GB), you’ll probably want to stick with the larger capacity CompactFlash cards on which to store the huge 10-megapixel images this camera takes. That is, unless you like swapping memory cards.

The E3 also sports a 2.5′-inch, dual-axis swivel LCD on the back, which you can pivot around at any angle, and auto-focus speeds said to be the fastest in the world when combined with the ED 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 lens from Zuiko Digital — which will set you back another $1,000.

The $1,699 price without lens will likely scare away many amateurs, but the overall E3 package offers those serious shooters another choice between the other go-to cameras in this price range, the Canon EOS 40D and the Nikon D300. As we all know, gadget competition is a good thing for shoppers, whether they be prosumers or just plain ‘ol amatuers.

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Related Links:

• Just Tell Me What to Get: A Sub-$200 Cam
• How to Resize Your Photos For E-Mail
• A Video Cam No Bigger Than a Pack of Gum!

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Filed under: News

It almost seems like Korea is getting everything from Sony that the rest of the world would like as well — IPTV, dibs on new SKU’s, and now they’re getting the coveted white PS3 as well. We’re not complaining, rather, applauding the luck of Korea in gathering up the coolest of the PS3 gadgetry, though we hope Sony tosses some bones to the rest of the world as well.

The system is getting released in Korea on the very same day it gets released in Japan, so there’s still hope the rest of the world will get a shot at the white PS3 before the new year. The cost in Korea for the system is 348,000 won — about $350 US dollars. Nice! Enjoy it, Korea!

[via Kotaku]

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Saif Ali Khan has admitted that he and Kareena are having an affair. He said that they are very happy together and he made this statement in front of all the reporters present at the Lakhme Fashion show. When Saif made this statement Kareena was also present there with him and she did not seem […]

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Filed under: Audio/Video, Cell Phones

This Friday, Verizon will launch its latest and perhaps slickest music phone yet. Called the Juke (from Samsung), the new player/handset is slim and light, yet surprisingly powerful. It sports two-gigabytes (GB) of internal storage for MP3, WMA, AAC, and AAC+ music, meaning it should play your DRM-free tunes from just about every download service out there.

Granted, you probably won’t be able to take your entire music library with you given the Juke’s minimal memory, but at about 3.8′-inches long and 1.2′-inches wide, Verizon’s new handset is certainly small enough to take pretty much anywhere. Despite its diminutive size, the Juke still sports a 1.3-megapixel camera. It also supports wireless stereo Bluetooth headsets (which is more than we can say for the iPhone!).

Of course, if you want to listen to your tunes wirelessly, you’ll need to purchase that Bluetooth headset separately, but Samsung includes wired set of headphones for in the $99 package (of course, you’ll need to sign-up for two years with the carrier). …

Available in red, teal, or black, the Juke is available for pre-order now at the Verizon Wireless site.

Related Links:

• Sprint Is the Suckiest (according to Google Search)
• LG and Verizon Take On the iPhone
• The New Palm Centro - Can it Redeem the Company?

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Filed under: Major movement, International markets, Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Middle East, Private equity, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Chevron Corp (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), Commodities, Oil, S and P 500, DJIA

Good thing the stock market isn’t a person because it would have probably had a heart attack or two given the stress it’s been under lately.

Continued worries about consumer confidence, the subprime mortgage meltdown and life in general can turn the mood on Wall Street from serene calm to the depths of despair faster than you can say “buy, buy, buy” or “sell, sell, sell.” The volatility can be breathtaking to behold at times. Today, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 163 points to 13929.60, and the Nasdaq took its biggest loss in a month, following Citigroup (NYSE: C)’s lackluster earnings report and comments from the CFO saying that late payments on mortgages may rise in the fourth quarter.

Tim Hartzell, chief market strategist at the $2 billion Kanaly Trust Co. in Houston, told Bloomberg News that, “It’s not a good spot to be in right now for a consumer here in America.“As for the Citigroups of the world, there’s too much unknown that still has to work itself out.”

For glass-is-half-empty types, there is plenty to be grumpy about. SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM), better known as Sallie Mae, continues to fight to prevent its private equity suitors from walking away from their planned $25 billion purchase of the student lender. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) today agreed to create a fund to buy $75 billion to $100 billion in highly rated bonds and other debt, including subprime mortgages from structured investment vehicles that have had difficulty obtaining financing, according to the New York Times.Financial stocks, which have been taking a beating over the past few months, lead the overall market down. Even tech isn’t immune to the slowdown. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC)’s 28% gain this year may not be sustainable unless CEO Paul Otelini can increase gross profit margins, according to Bloomberg News. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) traded down slightly today after The New York Times did a story Saturday detailing its potential threats. There wasn’t much new there, but it reinforced the lingering pessimism about whether Google’s growth is sustainable.

Further complicating the picture are oil prices which hit almost $85 per barrel Monday on concerns about the weather and the growing tensions between Turkey and the Kurds. This made the energy sector a winner today, boosting shares of ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP).

Let’s not forget that earnings season has begun in earnest, and nervous investors will continue to stay on the sidelines until they see how the game is going. Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading told Reuters that, “The all-clear has not been given. What drove us lately was just that momentum trade-up. The real news is buried underneath, and we won’t know it until it hits us on the face.”

For now, the market will continue to swing wildly between ecstasy and despair for a while, or at least Dr. Ben Bernanke writes the stock market prescription for lower interest rates. Like medical doctors, Bernanke has to figure out how to cure what’s ailing his patient without making things worse.

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Lime green is certainly a unique color by any means, and this time the Olympus µ 790 SW comes in that color. There will only be 5,000 of this model available across Europe, so you ought to pick one up sooner rather than later in order not to be disappointed. Like many other Olympus cameras, this 7.1 megapixel shooter is shockproof, waterproof, and freezeproof (!), boasting a 3x optical zoom, Face Detection Technology for sharper portrait images, multiple scene modes (including four for underwater use), the TruePic III image processor, and a 2.5″ HyperCrystal LCD display. Pricing should be the same for this limited edition lime green model as with other colored counterparts, and can be purchased in stores now. More features are available after the jump.

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