Here’s a cool new app for the iPhone and iPod touch - say hello to ‘PockerGuitar’, an app that really trumps the air guitar. You can even have guitar sessions with the songs in your iPod as it’s been tested on iPod touch 1.1.1. Installation is easy, PocketGuitar is now included in ModMyiFone.com Sources. via code.google.com

Today MySQL, the world’s most popular open-source database, has agreed to be acquired by Sun Microsystems for around $1 billion. This is big news for the Swedish MySQL that started in 1995, and is a rocker for the open-source world.MySQL is a staple element in many of today’s most popular websites like Facebook, Google, Nokia, Baidu and China Mobile; and popular blogging platforms like Wordpress. Sun press release

As is to be expected, there certainly are a lot of excellent tech gadgets coming out of CES. I’ve rounded up some of the better ones. If you have any personal favorites, point me to them.

By the way, if you haven’t had a chance to check out the video Bill Gates showed during his keynote speech at CES about what his last day at Microsoft might be like, check out this hilarious video: Bill’s Last Day at Microsoft.

Some more interesting tech gadgets found at CES:

- A mobile video telephone service that allows deaf people to connect with a translator 24 hours a day around the world. The translator can hear the conversation and sign back to the deaf person over the video screen. It’s like having your own personal translator in your pocket. It was created by deaf people, for deaf people. What a great idea.

- Panasonic now has the world’s largest plasma TV. At an astounding 150 inches, it is 42 inches larger than the previous world record holder, Sharp’s 108 inch LCD TV.

Photo: Pop Sci

- Just like supermodels, LCD and Plasma TVs are getting skinny to the point where it feels like they might break if you touch them. Pioneer unveiled the thinnest TV ever with a 50 inch screen model that is just 9 millimeters thick thin. Just to give you an idea of how unreal this seems, that is skinnier than an iPod. The dirty little secret is that all the electronics are bundled together in a tiny nub on the back of the television. Obviously that part is not included in the measurements, but it still looks slick.

Video: Pop Sci

Read the rest of this entry »

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) began today. CES is an electronics trade show held every January in Vegas that showcases many of the high tech gadgets set to release in the coming year. The show runs from today through Thursday and you can expect to see many of the gadgets to show up in various news sources. All the major technology companies bring their latest and greatest products to show off to the media.

Bill Gates got CES off to a start with his 12th and final keynote speech. His speech centered on his view of the future of technology. He believes devices with screens, such as mobile phones and televisions, will be much more connected with eachother to create a very seamless media experience. He also showed off Microsoft’s voice activated Synch system for cars, which allows the driver to select music or make calls hands free.

Some of the new items showcased so far:

Check out Dell’s 22 inch crystal LCD monitor, news courtesy of Engadget. It looks absolutely sexy, but comes with a price tag of $1200.

Photo: Engadget

Learn to play guitar and create music on your PC with Guitar Wizard. Similar to the Guitar Hero video game, but uses a real guitar so you can learn something useful while you play.
Read more coverage of Guitar Wizard.

Ever had the need to take pictures underwater? Liquid Image Co.’s scuba googles see what you see and allow you to quickly take pictures and video underwater.

Photo: PC Mag

Read more at the Official CES Website.

Netflix recently announced a partnership with LG Electronics to build a set-top box for streaming movie rentals directly to a user’s television. The set-top box would work similar to a cable box and Netflix customers could order movies on demand right to their television. Although offering online movie rentals is nothing new, they have not been very popular with the mainstream consumer and the market is just beginning to take shape.

This news comes shortly after BusinessWeek suggested that Apple is set to offer movie rental downloads through their iTunes service. Apple will make Fox movies available for download with limited-time viewing restrictions. These movies can be watched on computers, iPods, iPhones, and other similar video ready gadgets. This could potentially be a huge market for Apple.

Other companies have tried the online movie rental download business without much success. Walmart and HP discountinued their services due to lack of demand. Many cable companies have offered on demand movies for some time, with varying levels of success. Amazon and Tivo offer another similar service. I think Netflix could be successful in this area because they already have a very large consumer base currently using their movie mail order service. Earlier this year they started allowing customers to stream movies to their computers, which has been very popular with the younger audience. While a younger audience is already used to watching movies on laptops and computers, the older audience might prefer a set-top box that allows them to view movies on their TV.

The new Netflix service is expected to be ready by fall of 2008.

Source: Business Week