Ipod Faces Patent Infringement

BBC writes: "Creative filed a complaint alleging that iPods infringe on its patent for software it uses to organise and access music on its Nomad and Zen-branded media players."

I love both companies equally. The Ipod Nano 4gb won my heart over when it was first released. However, I recently sold the Nano and converted to Creative's 30gb ZEN Vision:M player. The Vision:M straight out beats the Ipod to the ground with it's vivid color screen and multiple functions, such as FM radio, recording, and excellent video playback. I'll write more about this some other time.

This song is on my mind right now:

Someday

Nintendo Wii Price Announced in Japan

Videogamesblogger writes, “Looking at the Wii price of 25,000 yen, that converts directly into $223 / €175 / £119. When deciding regional prices for their products they can’t just stay with the nearest number, but they can round it off so it’s easy for customers to pay for at the store. Keeping that in mind, we can expect the Wii prices to be: $225 / €225 / £150 !!Add in a second controller and you’re at $250, you’re going to get at least one new game, which puts you at $300. Perhaps these low prices are why Nintendo has predicted on the same press conference that sales of six million units by March 2007 are achievable for the Wii.”

Now that’s a price point a lot of customers will be happy with. Mind you that these are still speculations. I believe the Wii will be priced at $199 USD, the same price as when the Gamecube came out. Well, i’ll be looking forward to Wii’s release as it’ll be more of a game console than an overpriced media station.

Student faces expulsion for Web post

Whoa bloggers, watch what you write! Just kidding! Man, if you read this article, you’ll probably think it’s a load of crud as well.

Chicago Sun-Times writes, “A 17-year-old student who posted on his blog site that he was being bullied and threatened by the Plainfield School District will face an expulsion hearing this week, a local attorney said.”

““The district is going to take away the student’s education for exercising his freedom of speech,” said attorney Carl Buck. “I feel like they are trying to control his freedom of speech. … He is saying, ‘You can’t bully people and we have a right to object and you can’t throw people out of school for voicing their opinions.’””

Ethanol-Powered Car Wins in Recent Challenge

CNET writes, “An ethanol-powered vehicle engineered by students from the Lycee La Joliverie took top honors at the Shell Eco-marathon, a contest to build a car that can drive as far as possible using the least amount of energy.The vehicle averaged an astounding 2,885 kilometers per liter, or approximately 6,786 miles per gallon, according to an announcement released Sunday by race officials.”

Simply amazing…unfortunately the car isn’t much larger than the average person. I can’t wait to see how far this kind of technology can go.

Here’s a song to go along with this:

Gas

American Idol Raking in the Cash for FOX

Have you been watching recently? Well…CNN Money writes, “Whether you’re a member of the “Soul Patrol” or if you’ve got a bad case of “McPheever”, one thing is for certain: regardless of who winds up being named this year’s “American Idol” on Wednesday night, Fox will be a big winner.”

“And according to several media buyers, the average cost of a 30-second ad on the Wednesday edition of “Idol” this year was more than $700,000, by far the highest rate for commercials during a regularly scheduled TV show. And for Wednesday’s season finale, Fox is said to be charging $1.3 million for a 30-second spot, buyers said.”

So big bucks for FOX via advertising and don’t forget, the artists that appear on the show also get exposure and benefit. IE. Daniel Powter was fairly unknown until he appeared on the show as a guest artist.

Listen to Daniel’s hot Billboard topping song:

Bad Day

EW review: ‘Da Vinci’ is no masterpiece

“(Entertainment Weekly) — Dan Brown’s theological scavenger-hunt mystery novel “The Da Vinci Code” may be the pop version of a novel of ideas, but that doesn’t mean the ideas don’t pop.”

“He uses cheesy digitized flashbacks, rarely trusting the dialogue to evoke history, and he seems faintly rushed and embarrassed each time the movie grows talky, as if he were worried that the breathless theology wouldn’t hold us.”

“As a novel, “The Da Vinci Code” has a resonance that lingers. It may be less history than hokum, but it’s a searching product of the feminist era, when even many true believers have grown weary of the church as an instrument of moral reprimand and male dominion. The film is faithful enough, but it’s hard to imagine it making many converts.”

EW gave it a C+, but i’ll be the judge of it myself as the review could have been influenced by certain “powers.” J/K

Dell reports in-line quarter, adds AMD chips

“Dell reported fiscal first-quarter earnings Thursday that fell in line with the lowered forecast the company issued last week, and said it will introduce servers with AMD chips, a first for the company, which has previously only used Intel chips.”

Well, well, well, didn’t I see this coming? Dell has to learn sooner or later that it can’t avoid AMD. Plus, Dell will now reach a larger customer base. Mind I say, still needs to work on it’s customer service.

Samsung Readies Hybrid Hard Drive

“Samsung Electronics plans to unveil next week a prototype hard drive that can improve system performance and extend battery life on laptops, the company said today.”

“Drive will include flash memory, allowing for better battery life and faster boot time.”

It’s also going to be incorporated into Vista. Pretty neat stuff. It’s good to hear about advances in laptop hard drives because the current, average drive is fairly slow and eats up battery power like a fat kid eats cake. I can’t wait for laptop battery technology to improve; feasible fuel cells anyone?

Microsoft announces hardware requirements for Vista

Are you ready for Windows Vista? Found out on Microsoft’s information website to see if your PC’s hardware can handle the next generation OS. By the time the OS comes out in January 2007, I think most people will have computers capable of running Vista. The new Intel and AMD processors are coming out this year as well. So current dual-core processor lines will decrease in price and drive up sales. Anyways, my computer will definately be ready for Vista and I’m beta testing a copy of Vista right now and it’s pretty slick.

Steve Emtman To Enter College Football Hall of Fame

“Former Washington defensive lineman Steve Emtman was announced Tuesday as one of 15 former players and coaches who will be enshrined in the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame. The 13 players and two coaches selected Tuesday will be part of the Hall’s Class of 2007, which will be officially enshrined at the Hall in South Bend, Ind., during ceremonies in the summer of 2007.”

Go Huskies! Woof Woof! *cough* Well, hopefully we’ll have a better season this year regardless.