We can tolerate Reality TV online. We can even suffer through TMZ TV, although we find it rather opportunistic. But when we heard about Online Nation that will premiere on The CW, we really started to wonder why anyone who has access to the Internet would want to see YouTube on the boob tube? There are plenty of opportunities to get your fifteen minutes of fame online, so why would we want to do the same in the real world?
We suspect that this is a chance for Network television to get in on the popularity of such sites that appeal especially to younger people who are the big spenders. In other words, another feeble attempt at making folks look merely foolish in the search for the big bucks. We do, however, applaud the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for awarding a special Emmy to Current TV and its partners Al Gore and Joel Hyatt for recognizing that there is more to the Internet than the exploits of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.
Filed in: Apple
So we’re starting to realize how Best Buy is pulling in record profits while the rest of the industry crashes and burns: it’s the little things, you see. For instance, the ubiquitous big box retailer is offering a $50 pre-paid Sirius gift card on its online site for the bargain price of only $55; a $5 markup for a little voucher whose “holiday version” can be purchased three lines below for the normal price — that is, if it wasn’t somehow sold out online. (How hard is it to print up a new batch of those things, anyway?) The distraught customer could head to Best Buy’s XM section, where $55 gift cards only cost $55, or he or she could simply click over to rival Circuit City, where not only does the same $50 card actually cost $50, it’s available immediately and not backordered one to two weeks.
If you want to add a bit of pizzazz to your music, MediaReady will provide you with a 2GB BLINGPLAYER that is portable and ready-to-wear. Available in polished or brushed chrome or Skull
Say hello to Rolly, the dancing egg. This Sony MP3 player can spin around with sensors that allow volume control when turned clockwise or counterclockwise or switch music with a push or pull. Weighing only 11 oz., it holds 1 GB of flash memory and built-in speakers. Bluetooth capable, it is programmable with software that will analyze music and then create choreography for the little bugger. It also doubles as an alarm clock. Rolly can keep going for about five hours before needing a recharge, and will hold 100 to 600 tunes, depending on the complexity of its dance steps. Only available at this point in Japan, its MSRP is ~$354.00.
Coby has come up with a