Ah, gadget violence: if you want to create a viral video, it cannot fail. That’s what Sony Australia was thinking when they created a video in which a PS3 Slim gets smashed into a Sony Bravia LCD TV at 50 mph (22 meters per second). We give Sony points for not trying to hide the fact that they’re behind the video: it’s part of a promotion during which Sony Australia is giving away 25,000 PS3 slims for buyers of selected Bravia LCD TV models. A couple of blogs were invited for the event, which included a specially-constructed sled that hurled the 3.2 kg heavy PS3 Slim into the Sony Bravia KDL46X 3100 Full HD LCD TV which was standing some 60m away. You can read the gory details over here, or simply check out the beauty of sheer destruction (in slow motion) in the video below. Tags: Bravia, PS3, sony, viral video

  The marketing campaign for the upcoming Motorola Droidis in full swing, with the new phone looking to be both the definitive Android handset and a genuine challenger to the iPhone. Following a fairly vicious attack on the iPhone through the launch of the “DroidDoes” ad campaign, which essentially calls out all of the iPhone’s shortcomings, an associated mail marketing campaign has also been launched for the device.The message? Droid is omnipotent, scary and has night vision, at least according to this messaging: “It hears, It knows / Fast. Scary fast / It sees in the dark.” The promotional mails, obtained by BoyGeniusReport, form part of a campaign that’s actually building some palpable excitement within the geek community: the kind of excitement usually reserved for products built in Cupertino.Is Judgment Day fast approaching for the iPhone? We’ll know at the end of this month.Tags: droiddoes, motorola droid, verizon droid

  Internet geeks would love to believe that their online behaviors actually stimulate the brain for the better. It turns out this notion may be a reality, at least according to a FOXNewsstory that recently surfaced.Yesterday, findings from a UCLA study on internet behavior and brain activity were presented at the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago.The study, which involved fMRI scans on 24 neurologically normal volunteers ages 55 – 78, showed that the portion of the group that had very little internet experience were able to change their brain activity patterns and increase function after just 7 days of one hour sessions searching the web.Participants consisted of two test groups, those who used the Internet daily, and those that did not. Both groups under went initial brain scans while searching the web to track “brain activity by measuring the level of blood flow in the brain during cognitive tasks.”Ultimately, those in the less internet savvy group demonstrated that the regular web searches activated brain patterns similar to those in the savvier internet user group. The original author of the study, Teena D. Moody, concluded, “The results suggest that searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults.”From the report:“The first scan of participants with little Internet experience showed brain activity in the regions controlling language, reading, memory and visual abilities. The second brain scan of these participants, conducted after the home practice searches, demonstrated activation of these same regions, but there was also activity in the middle frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus – areas of the brain known to be important in working memory and decision-making.Thus, after Internet training at home, participants with minimal online experience displayed brain activation patterns very similar to those seen in the group of savvy Internet users.”While the findings are only applicable to older adults, follow up studies on young adults are expected to determine if the same correlation holds true. The eventual goal is to “identify aspects of online searching that generate the greatest levels of brain activation.”Reviews: societyTags: brain, internet, study, ucla

  We’ve been covering this story as it unfolded, from the first admission of a color screento the leaked dual-screen detailsand the leaked price of $259.Now at long last, Barnes & Noble’s eReader the Nook is official, and it’s worth bringing you an update on all the details.On board will be 2 GB of storage — enough to hold about 1,500 eBooks — with an SD slot for expanded storage. With wireless turned off, the battery will last a reported 10 days on a single charge — pretty good news in the battery life department.In a significant win for Google’s remarkably flexible mobile OS, the Nook is running Android. It will feature a nicety whose lack is often disparaged about eReaders — the ability to loan a book to a friend. Said friend won’t even also have to have a Nook — the LendMe feature can be used to loan a book to any device that will run the B&N eReader software, including Macs, PCs, BlackBerries and iPhones. The lending is limited to 2 weeks at a time, but nevertheless it marks an attention to user-friendliness than one-ups Amazon’s Kindle in this regard. It also supports the open ePub standard, again chipping away at Amazon’s primarily proprietary content store. Unfortunately in terms of selection, Barnes & Noble can’t quite hold a candle to Amazon. So if you’re primarily in the market for obscure titles, you might want to check your usual suspects in the Barnes & Noble storeto make sure the content market behind this device lives up to your expectations.Unfortunately, at launch the Wi-Fi capability will be limited only to within Barnes & Noble stores, which is a bit of a bummer. On the flip side, when in a store you’ll be able to connect via Wi-Fi and browse complete titles for free, just as if you were perusing a hard copy of a title in the store. Pre-orders for the device are going on now (a few more photos for your viewing pleasure are below), with an expected ship date in November. Does the Nook pique your interest? Or one of the other squintillion eReaders that seem to be on deck? Let us know in the comments.Reviews: Android, GoogleTags: amazon, barnes & noble, e-ink, ereader, Kindle, nook

  The Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco has just started, but the conference has already brought some heavy hitters on stage, including Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Paypal CEO Scott Thompson. Just moments ago, Twitter Co-Founder and CEO Evan Williams took the stage with Federated Media CEO John Batelle to discuss revenue models, Facebook, potential acquisitions, and Twitter’s (potentially stagnating) growth.Here are some of the highlights:- On revenue models: They’ve done a lot of thinking about it, but they’re spending “approximately 97% of their efforts” on perfecting and growing the Twitter platform. Basically, he was coy about the company’s revenue strategy. John brought up the idea of “TweetSense” and “TweetWords” (a play on the popular Google AdSense and AdWords platforms), but Evan didn’t admit to anything.However, he did say that they are optimistic on revenue, with so many brand advertisers and “theoretically monetizable information” available on the Twitter platform, the Twitter CEO isn’t worried about generating significant revenue in the near future.- On Twitter’s growth: Evan admitted that Twitter’s U.S. traffic has stalled the last few months, but that some new features (such as Twitter Lists) should help solve this problem. He also pointed to international and mobile growth. - On user retention: He stated that they have never been very good at finding that “killer application” for using Twitter for individuals, but that is now their focus. Twitter Lists is a big way to address this problem, Evan quickly added. They see it as a problem, but one that they can fix with some focus.- On potential acquisition: Twitter is going for a long-term strategy rather than a “grow and be acquired” strategy. Part of it is that Twitter has potential, and part of it is that Evan Williams doesn’t feel the same pressure other entrepreneurs have to sell, since he’s already cashed out once before with the sale of Blogger to Google. He doesn’t believe Twitter’s interests align with being part of a bigger company.- On Facebook: Evan discussed the increasing role of Facebook as a competitor to Twitter, but summed it up with this: “The world is big enough for Facebook and Twitter.”- On Google Wave: He thinks Google Wave is awesome. He doesn’t know what Google Wave will become, though.- On developers and revenue: Evan made it clear that developers can reliably invest in their platform. He believes developers are crucial to the Twitter experience.- On international growth: The top five countries in terms of users: U.S., UK, Brazil, Japan, Indonesia (surprising!).- On Twitter Lists and the suggested user list: “It’s time to retire the suggested user list.” He thinks they need to do something better and that it has indeed created a distortion in terms of influence.Image Credit: Joivia FlickrReviews: Facebook, Flickr, Google, Google Wave, Twitter, bloggerTags: evan williams, twitter

  Mobile Internet usage is on the rise. Apple’s share of the mobile smartphone market is only going to increase. AT&T’s mobile data traffic has increased by 4,932% over the last three years. There will be over 1 billion “heavy mobile data users” by 2013.These are just some of the stats that were shared with the audience at the Web 2.0 Summit today in San Francisco. Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker led a speedy and high-charged presentation over Internet trends. The data and stats packed in her 68 page presentation is nothing short of mind-boggling.The focus of her presentation this year (she gives this rapid-fire speech every year at Web 2.0) was on Mobile Internet and 8 key trends that Morgan Stanley has identified, including that social networking + mobile are driving big changes in communication and commerce.If you want to see all of the juicy numbers, we’ve embedded the entire presentation below:Tags: mobile web, Morgan Stanley, Web 2.0 Summit

  Poor Ben Kaplan. The Sports Illustrated Social Communications staffer has just been caught red-handed trying to place his hands in Digg’s big cookie jar. An incrimating email, supposedly from Kaplan to an undisclosed party, has surfaced on Digg and, though unconfirmed, appears to be an attempt by Kaplan to game the Digg system with third-party assistance.The email, which was posted to Digg and now has upwards of 1700 diggs, requests that the recipient, also a Digg user, submit Sports Illustrated stories to Digg. Kaplan even leads the recipient to an area of the Sports Illustrated site called Extra Mustardfor “amusing features” he’d presumably like to see get dugg. To make matters even worse, Kaplan closes the email with an offer to provide the recipient with “SI memorabilia (books, apparel, etc.) for free.”While we can’t confirm or deny that this is, in fact, an email from Kaplan, we do know that Ben Kaplandoes have a LinkedIn account, and that the @SIonDIGGTwitter name mentioned in the email is active, and has tweets clearly soliciting diggs (though we can’t confirm whether or not the account is legit). Regardless, this story is plausible.We hope, however, that Kaplan didn’t attempt to game Digg by bribing another digger in order to get more traffic for Sports Illustrated. But, with the exposure this email has received on Digg, the damage has already been done to his name and to Sports Illustrated. It looks as if they’re both caked in extra mustard.You can read the full text of the email below (click to enlarge).Reviews: Digg, LinkedIn, Twitter

  While Generation Y may believe that social media is for narcissists, a new behavioral study shows that the same generation spends more time on social networks than other online activities like checking email.Even more interesting, however, is that the study also found that Gen Y would be more reluctant to give up email and text messaging than social networks.In fact, only 9% of respondents were least likely to give up social networks for a week. Compare that against email and text messaging, each of which saw 26% of respondents unwilling to give it up, and you have an interesting conundrum to think about: social networks seem more expendable to Gen Y.This particular study, the third Gen Y behavioral study conducted by The Participatory Marketing Network(PMN) and the Lubin School of Business’ Interactive and Direct Marketing (IDM) Lab at Pace University took place in October and involved 203 participants between the ages of 18 – 24. The study was focused on examining preferences around social networking, email, texting, talking on the phone, watching TV, reading magazines, and surfing the web (non social media sites).In analyzing the rather quirky results around social networking sites and email, PMN co-founder, Michael Della Penna, believes that email is still incredibly important in the lives of Gen Y. He claims that email remains a “collection point for social networking updates, including alerts around new followers, discussion updates and friend requests.”Other interesting findings from the study include:- Talking on the phone appears to be less of a priority than email, with only 11% least likely to give it up for a week- Reading magazines and visiting non social media sites are behaviors that surveyed respondents would gladly give up for a week, with only 7% and 6% respectively unwilling to avoid these activities- On average, Gen Y send and receive upwards of 740 text messages per monthBased on this data, we could conclude that email has become focal point of college-aged kids’ lives, a hub for which all over activities center around. So while 18 – 24 year-olds happen to spend more time using social media, they also seem to consider it less of a necessity. Does this spell trouble for Facebook and Twitter? It’s hard to say, given that most Gen Y individuals won’t be faced with a decision to choose, but it does seem as if those sites won’t replace email for young adults anytime soon.Share your thoughts on the study results with us in the comments.Image from SomewhatFrankon FlickrReviews: Facebook, Flickr, TwitterTags: email, gen y, social networks, study

  According to WordPress, there are more than 60 million page views that come from mobile phones per month for WordPress.com blogs. With that kind of traffic, how your site renders on mobile devices could be a big boon to increasing engagement. That’s why we’re excited to learn that WordPress has just launchedtwo new mobile themes for WordPress.com blogs that will be automatically displayed when a compatible mobile phone attempts to access your site.For smartphones with top notch mobile browsers, like the iPhone or Android devices, the theme will be a tweaked version of WPtouch, while other devices will sport a variation of the WordPress Mobile Edition.From the sound of it, WPtouch is pretty spiffy and even includes custom header image scaling. WordPress also shares that, “visitors greeted by WPtouch will get easy access to posts, pages, and archives. They’ll get fancy AJAX commenting and post loading.” As for phones running less sophisticated browsers, the mobile theme will help your site load faster and display as much relevant information about your blog as possible.Given that the new mobile themes are default, you don’t have to do anything to see the new changes made to your WordPress.com blog. However, if you’d like to disable the mobile themes, you can do so from your Dashboard under Appearance -> Extras.While we think the news is great for hosted WordPress blog owners, we’re slightly disappointed that the mobile themes aren’t available for those of us who have self-hosted WordPress blogs.Reviews: Android, WordPressTags: blogging, Mobile 2.0, mobile theme, Wordpress, wptouch

  There are slimy, unscrupulous sites out there that try to charge people outlandish fees to download the totally free and open source Firefox web browser. These sites aren’t new, but today surfaced an interesting tourof what one of these scam sites actually puts people through, and we thought it a good time to put out a public service reminder.We’re sure most of our readers out there are too savvy to be snared by any of these scams, but for the non-technical people in your life and the significant number of folks who aren’t even sure what a web browser is, this could be good to pass on.Although the folks at Mozillawork with major search engines to keep these trap sites from hijacking trademarked terms and keywords, a few still sneak by and new ones crop up from time to time. They’re especially visible on smaller search engines.Beyond generally shady and vague other line items that suddenly get added to your total, there is often a misleading assertion that you’ll see a “onetime charge” for the privilege of downloading your free browser — with a subsequent screen containing a barely noticeable checkbox roping you in for a monthly subscription. Of course, folks who fall intothe trap seem to have an incredibly difficult time stopping them from occurring once they realize recurring charges are withdrawn from their credit cards.Though this may reek of “obvious scam” to most of you, just make sure when you recommend Firefox to a less technical friend or relative you let them know it’s completely free to download and use. Even better, pass them the GetFirefox.comlink or tell them to head directly to the Mozillasite to download the latest version for their platform.Have you ever seen one of these suspicious search results or had the misfortune of visiting one of these sites either in haste or by accident? Are you as outraged about unscrupulous internet scammers as we are?Reviews: FirefoxTags: Firefox, scams, Search

  Is America done with Balloon Boy? As if! With reports that the Heene family’s aviatory escapades were more viral than David Letterman’s sex scandal, it’s doubtful we’ve seen the end of it yet.Case in point, this hip-hop adaptation of the Balloon Boy story, featuring the original kitchen table incident that inspired it all and liberal usage of the Auto-Tunevocal effect. Some might say this video was practically inevitable.Check out the music vid below (warning: NSFW language) which also stands as a fitting tribute to another popular parody, the I’m on a Boatrap cliche sendup. Let us know what you think — are Balloon Boy parodies tired? Wired? Fodder for another few weeks’ worth of YouTube videos, Fresh Prince adaptations, and Venn Diagrams?[via Buzzfeed]Reviews: Auto-Tune, YouTubeTags: balloon boy, parodies, video, youtube

  Having a consistent social identityis becoming increasingly important for users and businesses that engage in online communication. After all, people can associate you or your personal brand with your username.Fortunately, a number of services like Namechkand KnowEmexist so that you can check to see what services have your desired username available. Today, KnowEm is launching some new services to make searching and registering usernames that much easier, across social sites.The basic KnowEm search service is free. You can search more than 330 social media networks for your desired username to see what’s out there and what has already been snatched up. If you don’t have an established brand name, this can also be an opportunity to evaluate the right name to use.Now, in addition to letting you search sites and get links to sign-up for free, KnowEm is offering three different packages to make signing up for accounts even easier.The Corporate Edition clocks in at $350, but will register your desired username across 150 of the top social websites, set-up your profile, avatar, bio/description and URL. This is all done by KnowEm staffers in New Jersey and they set things up so you don’t have to worry.The Individual Edition is $99 and will start the sign-up process at 150 different social sites. You’ll still need to confirm the sign-ups and populate the accounts with your own information.For the true social media addict, KnowEm also offers a subscription service for $49 a month that will automatically register your username on 30 new social networks a month.Although I think that many individuals and businesses underestimate the importance of having a solidified online identity, I’m not sure how many businesses will be prepared to have the sign-up process done for them.What do you think? Would you pay to automatically guarantee that your username was associated with all types of social networks? Let us know!Reviews: NamechkTags: knowem, namechk, social identity, username registration

  For as long as we can remember the term “Google Phone” has referred to Google’s Android operating system as opposed to an actual Google device. But this morning TheStreet.comis reporting that there is an offical Google-branded phone on the way, and it will be the product of a partnership between Google and an unnamed smartphone manufacturer.Even more remarkable is that the rumors have this Google Phone poised to be released before the end of the year and available through retailers instead of carriers. Essentially, the phone would be something you could purchase regardless of your wireless service provider, and the antithesis to the iPhone and its exclusivity with AT&T.At the center of the rumor is Ashok Kumar, a Northeast Securities analyst, who claims to have spoken with Google’s design partners about the phone and it’s product release strategy. The article speculates, “If talk of the Google phone plan is true, the entrance of a unlocked, low-cost, Web-friendly touchscreen device will probably undercut other Android phone efforts by players like Motorola, Samsung and Dell.”We’re quite anxious to see how this rumor develops and if there’s any merit to it. We think it would be a smart and logical move for Google, with the potential to steal customers away from Apple and their wildly successful iPhone, which remains exclusive to AT&T in the US. Reviews: Android, GoogleTags: Google, google phone

  We noticed a short while ago that social photography site Flickrwas down. We were hoping that it would just be a minor hiccup, but it looks like that Flickr has been going online and offline for some time.There are several new updates on the Flickr Blogover the issues. The first update was at 8:51 AM PT and the last one was at 10:50 AM PT. Here is the full text from Flickr:“10:50 AM PDT: Hey, we wanted to make sure you all knew, if you embedded photos from a photopage on Flickr, we are still serving them. So, if they are posted to your blog, your photos will still be showing there. What we are doing now is working on getting all our WWW servers back on for everyone; this includes bringing the API back up, which has been affected as well. Sorry for the downtime to everyone, we hate it as much as you!10:05 AM PDT: We’re still here working on getting things up and serving to you, shouldn’t be too much longer!9:18 AM, PDT: Hello! All hands are on deck over here and we’re still working on getting things back up for everyone. Apologies for the disruption!8:51 AM, PDT: Ahoy everyone! Flickr is experiencing problems at the present time, and our engineers are all in the main engine room, working on resolving the issue. Please hang tight, and we’ll have things back for you as soon as possible. If we need to, we’ll post an update for you here.”We’ll update this post when Flickr is back online.Reviews: FlickrTags: flickr