Griffin Technology has introduced TuneBuds earphones that match your iPod, without sacrificing on sound quality as well as comfort. It will come in half a dozen metallic colors that are at home with any of Apple’s second and third generation iPod nanos. These new TuneBuds are also comfortable to wear, since they feature specially-engineered ear cushions that are shaped to perfectly conform to the insides of your ear. Each $19.99 purchase comes with three sizes of interchangeable soft washable silicone ear cushions. All TuneBuds feature a slender stereo-mini plug that fits iPhone and other recessed headphone jacks.

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Filed under: Computers

Dell took the spolight at yesterday’s Oracle OpenWorld conference to formally announce two new products, the Latitude XT tablet and the XPS One all-in-one computer. Both share the same understated styling, but fulfill very different purposes.

The XT tablet is a thin 12.1-inch portable computer with a touch-screen interface which supports multi-touch like the iPhone. The tablet ships with a photo viewer not unlike that found in Microsoft’s uber-cool but wholly conceptual Surface tabletop computer, letting you scroll through photos and move them about with multiple fingers.

The XPS One is an iMac-like fully integrated computer PC supporting a wireless keyboard and mouse, meaning if you have WiFi you might be able to run the thing with only a single power cord running out the back. It sports a 20-inch LCD and a selection of CPU and memory configurations to suit your needs.

Pricing has not announced yet, but given they’re expected to be available inside of a month, it shouldn’t be long before we have some firm numbers to share.

From Engadget

Related Links:

• Microsoft Unveils Surface Tabletop Computer
• Former Dell Dude Now Works In a Mexican Restaurant
• Microsoft Caves to Consumer Pressure, Extends Windows XP’s Lifespan

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Filed under: News

Gamers firing up the incredibly addictive CCG/videogame Eye of Judgment tonight will find that they have an update waiting for them. Bumping the game version way up to 1.01, this is a mandatory update for anyone who wants to play EoJ online. Without further ado, here is a list of the official updates:

• Main revised functions (no, we don’t know what that means either)
• Reinforcement of COM AI in Battle Arena Mode
• Optimization of network connections for Online Mode

It is great to see that Sony is updating EoJ already, but they still haven’t addressed one of the largest complaints of playing the game online — the fact that anybody can join your private game while you’re waiting for your friend to accept his invite. And really Sony, does the computer need any more help in kicking our asses?

[Thanks Woo!]

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Filed under: Gaming

We don’t know who thought it’d be smart to mess with the gods of rock, but choosing not to include surround sound support for Guitar Hero III just doesn’t sound like an intelligent move. Nevertheless, a assemblage of Wii gamers are reporting that the game is outputting audio in mono, despite the packaging advertising that Dolby Pro Logic II is supported. We’ve even seen users with Pro Logic II-capable decoders explain that while other Wii titles sound fine, GHIII in particular refuses to cooperate. Supposedly, Activision is busy looking into the problem, but there doesn’t seem to be a definitive time frame for when we can expect a fix. So, any of you shredders out there experiencing something similar, or have we only heard one channel, er, side of the story?

[Via Joystiq]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Gaming, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Solar-powered PMPs still aren’t exactly all that easy to come by, but it looks like they’re slowly becoming a bit more plentiful, as evidenced by this latest bit of gear from HK Power. As you can see, this one plays up its gaming capabilities quite a bit, which apparently comes in the form of NES and Game Boy emulators, and not anything PlayStation-related, despite the familiar buttons. Otherwise, you’ll supposedly also be able to take advantage of the PMP’s solar-charging capabilities to power up some of your other devices, and you’ll of course get all the usual PMP-related functions, with an SD card slot apparently your only means of storage.

[Via PMP Today]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Internet, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), eBay (EBAY)

Question: what does every e-commerce site need to enable it to sell more merchandise?

If you answered more giant Whoopi Goldberg ads, you’re only half right.

What every Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Ebay (NASDAQ: EBAY) needs is better metrics. Why?

Search engine marketing (or SEM) is about paying for traffic. By bidding on keywords, advertisers with Google or its competitors are paying to bring people to their websites. Once there, a website needs to convert traffic into sales. Not an easy thing to do and clearly, some traffic is more valuable than other traffic. The better Google gets at valuating the traffic and providing these metrics to their advertisers, the more profitable everyone becomes. Google makes more money because it optimizes the bidding on keywords by really valuating a click. Advertisers win because they have the tools to bid on the most profitable traffic. For an unbelievable treatise on why analytics are so important, check out Dave McClure’s great work on the industry and why investors should take note (Warning: Dave uses some strong language).

Google has a whole stable of analytics it provides its users. Ebay has tools for sellers to make them better at selling.

There has been some activity in the space recently. The leader in the burgeoning metrics industry, Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR), which went public in late June 2006, recently announced it was purchasing its largest publicly-traded competitor, Visual Sciences (NASDAQ: VSCN).

What makes this M&A interesting is the merger of the #1 and #2 independent metrics companies. With the consolidation, the industry should see some increased pricing stabilization and the combined entity should have increased scale to, as ThinkEquity analysts put it, “…out market, out innovate, and out support competitors, all while expanding profitability.” To this end, it’s interesting that the take-out price of VSCN is tied to OMTR — a recognition that the combined company is positioned to capture synergies going forward.

This is an industry that should capture investor interest, as it’s the enabler of ecommerce optimization. Omniture’s acquisition of Visual Sciences was priced at a 3.4 Enterprise Value/Revenue, a relative value in the internet space. Omniture picks up some next-generation technology, a strong customer base, and a leadership at the top of its game.

Zack Miller is the lead equity analyst for America Israel Investment Associates, LLC., the managing editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund. Disclosure: Author holds Google personally and hopes it will pay for his kids’ college educations.

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What do Kevin Costner, Jack Black, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the cast of ‘M*A*S*H’ have in common? If you said Kevin Bacon … well, you’re probably right. But they’ve also all appeared in TV ads for technology products ranging from Atari and Nintendo to IBM and Compaq. Inspired by this recent roundup of current celebrity ad campaigns, we’ve dredged the very depths of YouTube in search of the all-time greatest celebrity tech ads, and here’s what we found.

Celeb: Kevin Costner

Year: 1983

Product: Apple LISA

Synopsis: 1983 was a rough year for Kevin Costner. First, his hopes for a big break were shattered when his part was completely edited out of one of the year’s biggest films, ‘The Big Chill.’ Then, he appeared in this ad — as an actor, mind you; not as Kevin Costner — for the Apple LISA, one of the biggest flops in the history of personal computing. It’s evident Costner had yet to perfect his craft. After all, look at the way he walks into his office — is that the most unnatural gait you’ve ever seen? And look at the way he awkwardly holds the mouse! In his defense, though, how many people in 1983 knew how to use a computer mouse?

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Filed under: Action, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

You should be aware by now that The Dark Knight was recently shooting scenes in Hong Kong, marking the first time ever that Batman has left Gotham City for an international destination. Some say it was for the food, but Christian Bale says he’s there to jump off the city’s tallest buildings … as Batman. A number of videos have since hit the net; some of them show clips from a press conference that was held (featuring Morgan Freeman, Christian Bale and director Christopher Nolan), while other videos show scenes being shot, one of which involved Batman leaping from up top a ginormous building. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see him jump, but we do catch shots of someone in a Batman outfit way up on the edge of a building definitely earning his paycheck. I’ve included the montage video above, and you can head on over to The Dark Knight’s Unofficial Movie Blog to check out the rest.

One thing that was cleared up during the press conference was that rumor stating a scene had been cut that had Batman jumping into the Hong Kong harbor because of pollution. Nolan clearly states that this was not true; in fact, the scene was indeed cut, but because of script changes. He goes on to say it will make perfect sense once we see the finished product and that he has no problems whatsoever when it comes to dumping movie stars into polluted water. Good to know, Chris — let’s talk again when you shoot scenes in Staten Island. The Dark Knight is scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 18, 2008.

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Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Paramount, RumorMonger, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

Director Michael Bay has one message for all us movie bloggers out there: It’s on! In a recent Variety article that talked about which productions were gearing up for pre-strike work, Transformers 2 was mentioned as being “far enough along to proceed with pre-production, location scouting and advance VFX work, but will face serious issues if the strike continues for several months.” Right now, production is supposed to begin in June, and they’re eying a June 2009 release date, but whether or not they’ll make it depends on all this strike nonsense. Keep in mind, once the writers are done, there’s still negotiating with the directors and actors whose contracts expire at the end of May. But Michael Bay isn’t thinking strike right now — instead, he’s thinking of ways to throw off an internet community that strives on leaking information early.

You’ll remember that Bay and company dealt with plenty of early leaks on the first Transformers film, so much so that Paramount even had a few sites temporarily shut down due to their publishing of movie photos. But Bay claims he’s ready to handle it now, and when he spoke with Rotten Tomatoes recently, he said: “One thing I do know is I know how to screw them up more… We’re going to leak a lot of false information all over the place. I now know their game. They’re going to get a lot of script treatments that they think are going to be the script. They will never see the script. We’ve got scripts and treatments written up that we’re going to leak. No one’s going to know. There’s one out that’s fake right now. There are going to be many others.” Are you scared yet, oh Internet? Michael Bay is all up in yo grill — whatcha gonna do about it? Funny thing is, the script leaks are small potatoes — personally, I’d like to know how Bay plans to control the photo leaks. Will he quietly pay for internet secrecy by inviting a bunch of websites to lunch? Heck, it worked for one guy …

[via JoBlo]

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