When you hear the words “auto industry” in this day and age, it is hard to think of a properous and youthful market. One that is expanding and on the leading edge of automotive technology. However, we all know that the U.S. auto industry is anything but “leading edge” or prosperous. Unfortunately, they aren’t the only market to start feeling the pinch of not only economic times, but also the technological times as technology and digitized goods become more and more a part of our daily lives. So what area of the market has been thrust into the spotlight claiming to be in the most dire need of help and a solution…the newspaper industry…

While there were many things announced yesterday at WWDC, several of those pertaining to the new iPhone 3GS, one in particular left me wanting more - the camera. The old iPhone 2G and 3G cameras were 2 megapixel shooters with nothing else to aid in mobile static image gathering. The new iPhone 3GS uses a *slightly* higher resolution 3 megapixel camera, except this time auto-focus, auto-white balance, and a few other small software tweaked features are also added. As soon as I saw the camera I thought to myself “That’s it?”. Do you find yourself asking the same question?

The way Apple and AT&T have handled themselves, the control over the various iterations of the iPhone, as well as other entities such as the app store signals to me that Apple and AT&T are not here for the customer but merely to make money. (Shocker…I know). It is by no means a new revelation in my mind, but one that I hoped over time, as Apple became more and more entrenched in the mobile market, and as AT&T garnered more negative attention, things would loosen up. Sadly that hasn’t happened. So what exactly is all of this anger and resentment about?

On device app stores while still all the rage are now coming off of their peak. Last summer with the arrival of the Apple App Store, several manufacturers and companies including RIM, Google, and Nokia just to name a few announced plans for their very own app stores. Carriers, the gatekeeper of the data pipe naturally want in on this extremely lucrative market. There’s only one problem, the innovation and features that keep customers happy and constantly purchasing never came from “the network” (carrier branded stores). Look at the small app centers that carriers have run for the last decade, from AT&T to Verizon to T-Mobile. You could access these pathetic excuses of WAP shopping goodness from practically any phone…but who actually did? I know I didn’t. The app selection was abysmal at the absolute best and apps and services were often overpriced. That isn’t exactly the best combination if you ask me. So, now that the App Store hoopla is starting to die down, who is trying to break in and steal the spotlight multiple months late?

While wars currently rage between labels, copyright holders, RIAA-like companies, and consumers alike, a small movement may be on the verge of starting. A new band, “We Are The Fallen” has risen from the ashes that was Evanescence. While many will confuse the old and the new, Ben Moody, the co-founder of Evanescence sees the two bands as walking the path of life on this earth peacefully rather than resorting to typical celebrity drama/bashing. So what exactly is the big deal with this new band. At first glance many will more than likely confuse them for Evanescence as it is again a group of guys with a girl fronting the band. The real difference isn’t in the structure of the band, but in how they will share their creations with the rest of the world. Hint: Don’t think of “big CD releases”, instead, think of more sporadic updates. Their approach is exciting to say the least…

Look at the cellphone/smartphone/mobile device you are carrying around with you. Take a second to think about every feature that it has and what it can do. We take many mundane, simple features for granted every day such as MMS, Bluetooth, and now even WiFi and 3G. Such features just a few short years ago were seen as “big ticket” items that many were willing to pay dearly for. With each new revolution or advancement in mobile technology comes with it the attention of the devout few followers, those who love their gadgets so much they would tell little Jimmy that he will have to buy his own bike because papa is getting a new Blackberry. Looking at your current phone, regardless of how new or old it is, as well as looking at what is in technology magazines and websites today as the up and coming mobile tech, what will be “the” next thing?

In what can be a sad revelation and truth to come to terms with, the U.S. of A. is not as steadfast in their “free internet” beliefs outside of home grown soil. While the internet in the U.S. is uncensored, and hopefully will remain that way for…..ever, it seems we have different motives elsewhere. When you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, the west *that’s the U.S….among others* is one of the top providers and supporters of internet censoring software and tactics outside of U.S. borders. Surprised? I was. So how exactly has the U.S. aided such anti-American tactics abroad?

If you are the type of peson who finds the Blackberry shortcuts merely adequate or even insufficient for your needs, you my friend have an addiction. An addiction that modern science and medicine cannot cure. So what is a person to do? You could always set time limits for your Berry usage. You could give it up all together (thought that is a bit extreme). Lastly and more importantly, you can make use of a great little tool…”ShortcutMe”, an amazing, easy to use shortcut application that allows you to set practically limitless (as there aren’t /that/ many BB apps) shortcuts. So what exactly can you do with shortcut me? How can this shorcut app make your life with your Berry even more productive and easier?

HDMI cables aren’t exactly the most resilient connector in the cable world as they are easily knocked loose meaning you will spend many minutes of your life plugging a cable back into your device over and over again. For some, they don’t really care, but for others, that’s where the locking HDMI cable by PPC comes in. Built specifically for the home video enthusiast who needs a strong and reliable yet good quality cable, the locking cable by PPC will surely suit your needs.

The iPhone version of Scrabble brings the many joys of Scrabble to the mobile world and does a great job doing it. Many hours of my life will now be gone…invested in trying to muster a 3 letter word while the computer puts together a 30 word sentence…

The glossy “Aqua” style of Tiger and Leopard isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. iLeopard will appeal to those users by toning down the gloss and glare giving Leopard a new, darker lease on life.

The Logitech MX Revolution is an outstanding mouse that cuts the cord and ends a valiant quest that has stretched on for many months. Finally I can declare the search over as the MX is by far the best mouse for the money.

The Mobile Rak by New PC Gadgets allows you to easily stow your digital devices up out of the clutter that is your desk while presenting it to you in a convenient fashion. No longer will you have to dig though a plethora of wires trying to find the end of a different wire or worse yet your device!

We’ve all had times where we were trying to grab that last gummy bear underneath the seat but just can’t quite see where your paw is grabbing. Sure, you could use one of those little keychain lights. But those require batteries that you have to change all of the time. You can also use a bigger flashlight that could be seen from space. Though, those also take large batteries that over time are costly to replace. Why should you even have to replace batteries? Take your old flashlight and throw it in the trash because the 12v Spotlight will be the last light you ever have to get.

The Racer theme brings adds a new dimension to Blackberry themes by way of a slick customizable wallpaper. Racer has a dark overlay with a small spot left transparent as to let a real wallpaper show through. Wallpapers just got a tad cooler! The how to and more info on where to get this sweet theme are right inside!

Blackberry users who like to show a tad bit of flare and sophistication will find idBerry’s latest theme, MacBerry, to be quite the flare flinging theme. This eye gusher features a top “dock”/bar with 8 user customizable icons and a bottom dock with 5 fixed icons. The cool part with the bottom dock is that they are modeled after iPhone icons (cool if you’re into that sort of style I guess). Even cooler is that flipping between each bottom dock icon will automatically change the wallpaper. A nice touch indeed. I wish I had a Bold or 8900 to try this theme out on because it sure looks pretty sweet. I’m curious to see how it performs and if that slick bottom dock controlled wallpaper flipping action slows down the devices at all? (Feel free to let me know.) $6.99 and a trip to the Berry Review Store are all you need. Get downloadin’!

If you are a Mac or Windows 7 user who wants to spread their OS of choice to their Berry, Elecite has a solution for both Mac and Windows fans alike: The Leopard theme and Inspirat.

The highly customized, tuned, and expensive Alienware style can now be had for you berry. Give it that sleek “stellar” look that is out of this world!

The Se7en Blackberry Bold theme by Kissberry brings the slick look of Windows 7 to the Blackberry!

Hedone Design is back with another eye buster: TPXpert. The latest theme to come from the theming powerhouse is a sweet today plus-esque theme for all newer BlackBerry models. Some may not like the split screen style themes, but I find that if designed and executed correctly can actually be pretty functional and cool. I like on TPXpert how when you slide to the right for the calendar, the box on the right fills up with calendar entries. That is just one of the subtle touches that really make this theme stand out as a premium theme. If you are the Berry user who likes the choice to choose between many different icons on your homescreen in a split screen style, TPExpert is just the theme for you.

The previously mentioned LG GD900 gets another mention today as it is just plain cool.  Except this time a much better stance is shown.  For those of you who don’t remember, the LG GD900 is a sleek handset sporting a completely transparent keypad!  As is yesterday, other information is still unknown so all you have [...]

If that quesiton above has been bouncing around the hollows of your head for days on end if not years, I have the answer to your most sought after question. The picture above depicts the “Rosetta Disk” - 13,500 pages of data in an astonishing 1,500 different languages all crammed on to a solitary nickel (talk about eagle eyes). Speaking of which, you will need a 500x or greate microscope to read any one page…not to mention the know how of the language. Sooo…anyone know where the table of contents is….?

Prices of hard drives have fallen throughout the years to the point where you can now get more than ample room for dirt cheap. While just one short decade ago 1 single Gigabyte would set you back almost $300, today you can have the same Gig for the price of your standard newspaper! Even though the current cream of the crop drives boast 1-2 Terabytes of storage, the next big goal, the Petabyte, isn’t that far off. Just how much can you hold with a Petabyte?

It is no secret that washing machines, even today’s highly efficient models consume large amounts of water. Gaining more mainstream attention in recent times, low water and waterless washing machines on the other hand offer little to no watter consumption. So where are they?

Gadgets are increasingly becoming common fall backs to do simple things in our everyday lives that we were once burdened with doing. Take for example the simple act of opening a door. For centuries human beings have had to open and close their own door each and every time they want to pass through. In the modern age in which we live, why the hell should we have to do that? Several decades ago the electric door came into being and brought humans their firsts taste of autonomous door opening/closing. Fast forward to the year 2009. With mobile devices that are full of mobile computing power why not make the next move?

Though this isn’t gadget related, it is undoubtedly cool. The human body while certainly a walking vessel full of miniture miracles or feats of science happening every second, is still limited in its abilites. For example, our eyes are weak. We can’t see as far or crisp as an owl let alone a telescope. But what if our eyes had the power of the Hubble?

Bikers who appreciate and enjoy the added company of aother breathing body when on cross county bike rides will truly come to appreciate this latest test of sidecar innovation. Why lug around a dinky little sidecar that looks like a leech attached to your oh so dear motorcycle? Instead, pack something that will truly turn heads and thrust you into the “cool” club.

As you read the title above, think about how much 1 Trillion truly is. That is how many text messages we sent in 2008 according to CITA’s CEO, Steve Largent. But is it surprising? With the number of wireless subscribers in the billions and phones with either half qwerty mashups like RIM’s suretype keyboard or full qwerty keyboards, texting has becoming the new defacto standard for quick communication.

For many, MP3 player is synonymous with iPod. However, in terms of audio quality, the iPod is far from the top of the heap. Back when hard drive mp3 players were big, units such as the Rio Karma, iRiver iHP-120 (my favorite…mine still works), and Cowon’s X5 were the real kings of audio when actual audio quality was considered - something that seems to have fallen by the wayside today. If you want to bring some new school love to an old friend, in this case an old Cowon X5, reinvent your dying love with some new compact flash goodness.

The WSJ is one of the most widely read and highly regarded newspapers in the world. Because of their global success, the subsciption costs that are required to read said paper don’t deter many as it is again a very established and well respected newspaper. As far as actually spreading news and getting the word out there, having subscription costs and paywalls aren’t exactly the greatest method for Google popularity or subscribers as the people receiving the subscription payments are the only real beneficiaries. In order to be more indexable by Google, a sweet little back door is now open allowing anyone and everyone the ability to read any WSJ article online for free. While more technologically less intelligent people won’t ever stumble upon this wonderful backdoor, I’m letting you fine people know about it in order to “spread the open flow and movement of news”. Want to know how?

Anyone who knows something about something probably knows the big rip off, eye gouging, theft practices that goes on with the extremely over inflated cost of ink cartridges. Such wallet emptying practices never please anyone. The trend the last couple of years has been geared towards deception. For example, while ink cartridge prices have been falling on certain manufacturers models, the actual physical size of said cartridges is also falling — you’re getting the same raw deal folks. So what is a cash strapped, printer loving person such as yourself to do?

Mac OS X users who want to bring back a little of the Aqua shine to iTunes 8 now have a solution with iTunes Blue compliments of Larzon83 over at deviantart by way of a modified iTunes.rsrc file that once copied and pasted in place brings the sexy back to iTunes.

Everything in life can assume multiple roles. Technology and gadgets often have very short life cycles and are always being replaced by newer, faster, and smaller products. When the unfortunate time comes and your hard drive fails, instead of throwing it away, do something useful with it…make it a clock!

For those dear readers out there left wondering if they could ever mix food and TV quite literally…today is your day. Get out your old VCR and get ready to turn it into a toastin’ machine!

The previously mentioned LG GD900 gets another mention today as it is just plain cool.  Except this time a much better stance is shown.  For those of you who don’t remember, the LG GD900 is a sleek handset sporting a completely transparent keypad!  As is yesterday, other information is still unknown so all you have [...]