Parental Timer coming to the Xbox?

According to G4's The Feed, Microsoft is teaming up with the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and football superstar Jerry Rice to encourage families to limit Xbox time by enabling parents to physically control the consoles usage via a "Family Timer". “As a leader in interactive entertainment, it’s Microsoft’s responsibility to provide parents with tools they can use to manage their children’s video gaming and online experiences, and we have made that a priority from the very start,” said Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft.

Okay, for enough cash I'll kill this story and deny any knowledge... time to pool your allowances together kiddies!

Facebook marketing to your friends

Yesterday "Facebook began selling ads that display people’s profile photos next to commercial messages that are shown to their friends about items they purchased or registered an opinion about" according to this NY Times article. The idea is to inform your friends of your purchases via a Facebook broadcast, with your permission of course. “Nothing influences a person more than a recommendation from a trusted friend,” Mark Zuckerberg said of the program Facebook is calling "social advertising". Participation could mean "joining a fan club for a brand, recommending a product or sharing information about their purchases from external Web sites." Be fore warned, your friends will have no choice but to view the ads so you may find your friend list beginning to shrink if you are the source of a lot of spam!

YouTube opens Canadian site

YouTube has launched a Canadian version, YouTube.ca, at an event in Toronto today. Luis Garcia, international product manager for YouTube, said "The only thing that's different is that this is just a Canadian lens into that content, so if a user wants to get the Canada point of view into that global body of content, then they're able to do that," The idea is to promote Canadian content to Canadians with the CBC, the Canadian Football League, and Sony BMG Canada all be featured. According to the CBC "The CBC has been showcasing content on YouTube.com since March, including clips from The Rick Mercer Report and Royal Canadian Air Farce, as well as short films and archival footage." Check out this classic Rick Mercer skit, it's sort of fitting!

No gPhone, but plenty of wireless noise for Google

Google has finally let us all in on it's plans for the wireless world and there is no mention of a gPhone just yet. In a press release yesterday Google announced a new alliance with 33 technology companies to develop an open-source operating system for cellphones, to be known as Android. Android is said to have taken it's name from Android Inc. a company that Google bought in 2005, co-founded by Andy Rubin who helped design T-Mobile's popular Sidekick phone and who is now Google's director of mobile platforms. The list of partners includes Motorola, LG, and Samsung as well as several US carriers and tech companies Intel and Texas Instruments. Google intends on releasing the open software development kits on Monday. The Globe and Mail has the details.

Wired has a look under the hood as e-bay tries to regain momentum

Wired has an interesting article about slowing growth at e-bay and the companies attempts to get going again. It's not that e-bay is not making money, it's more about continuing to grow. Over the last few months e-bay has undertaken a number of new initiatives that are aimed at growing business and keeping browsers pointed squarely in their direction. "Other discovery features hop on the social-network bandwagon. Neighborhoods, a forum for like-minded collectors to network, got buzz when it launched in early October, and the still-unpublicized EKG allows users to curate their favorite items and share them with others, a concept similar to craft-commerce site Etsy's Treasury." Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I visited e-bay?

A Billion text messages a week in Briton!

According to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA) Britons are now sending more than 1 Billion text messages a week, up 25% in the last year! "It's convenient, comprehensive, it's on every handset and network and it is cost effective," said Mike Short, head of the MDA. The upward trend seems to be driven by business's adoption of the technology, "It's a lot more convenient for a business now to notify lots of their employees about an urgent message using a text message," what ever the reason that's a lot of keys being pressed on tiny key pads! I am seeing an increase in texting here in North America as well but I'd venture to guess that it's adoption rate is far below that of Europe and Asia. The BBC has more here.

iPhone named invention of the year by Time Magazine

Time Magazine's Lev Grossman says "All the cool features in the world won't do you any good unless you can figure out how to use said features, and feel smart and attractive while doing it," Grossman wrote. "In the world of technology, surface really is depth." according to this CBC article. The iPhone beat out wind and solar power cars as well as flexible display screens created by Sony Corp. and LG Electronics Inc. It sure did get a lot of buzz and it definitely sold well, I guess it all depends on the criteria you use to judge whether or not you'd come to the same conclusion as Time!

3 driverless vehicles survive challenge, winner to be announced today

Stanford's robotic VW Passat ("Junior"), Virginia Tech's modified Ford Escape Hybrid ("VictorTango"), and Carnegie Mellon's autonomous Chevrolet Tahoe ("Boss") all completed their tasks within the allowed time and DARPA will announce the winner of the Urban Challenge sometime today. Up for grabs is a $2 Million first prize and $1 Million second prize purse.

Watching the DARPA Urban Challenge

Not sure how much time is left but you might have a couple of hours to take in some of the DARPAweb cast Urban Challenge . You'd think that it would be terribly boring but in fact it's oddly exciting, particularly when you consider that there is no driver, no remote control, these machines are driving themselves! The commentators have alluded to some near misses and "contact" but overall it seems as though there is a great deal of success. As I am watching there are 6 vehicles still in the running. It's interesting to see just how well they drive...

Getting ready for Post-Tropical Storm Noel

A little late posting this morning as I have been busy putting things in the shed, tying down anything that could blow away and stocking up on supplies as Post-Tropical Storm Noel bares down on Atlantic Canada. I'm not sure why I'm taking this one more seriously than past storms, I don't recall being this concerned when Juan approached back in 2003. Perhaps I'm just a little older or maybe it was the EMO presentation I attended a couple of months ago. Never the less, I have been doing all the things you are told to do and as a consequence I was able to find an excuse to buy a new gadget. It's the Noma Rechargeable Flashlight with Cell Phone Charger! The light is small, fits easily in your palm, sports 5 LEDs, has 2 brightness settings, a crank for charging, connects to Samsung, Motorola & Nokia cell phones, a USB adapter, alarm and compass! $19.95 at Canadian Tire ;-)

PS - Hope to be able to stay online for more posts through the weekend but if I go silent you'll know why. You can follow the storm and storm warning at the Canadian Hurricane Centre's web site.